Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Gold and E-waste

Episode 4 of 5

Young British consumers work alongside luxury goods makers in Africa and Asia. In Ghana they mine gold and discover the terrible impact of e-waste.

Six young British consumers swap their luxury lives for the simple mud huts and shanty towns of Africa and Asia to work alongside the people who mine, manufacture, process and recycle luxury goods.

The Brits travel to Ghana to mine one of our oldest and most precious luxuries, gold, but also discover the impact of one of Africa's newest imports, e-waste.

Joining some of the thousands of men and women who mine gold by hand, the Brits struggle to cope as exhaustion bites, tempers fray and Shievonne collapses - making the Brits question if gold truly deserves its luxurious label.

But nothing the Brits have seen so far prepares them for the electrical dump site. Here, young children smash and break computers from the west in search of valuable copper - a means of survival that not only puts their health on the line but also their lives.

Will any of the Brits ever have the same love for their luxuries again?

1 hour

Last on

Mon 7 Jun 2010 02:45

Credits

Role Contributor
Executive Producer Mark Rubens
Executive Producer Tim Quicke

Broadcasts