Onions and Tires in Sodom and Gomorrah Translated title: Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History, Autumn 2015, no. 21: Onions and Tires in Sodom and Gomorrah

Abstract

Agbogbloshie (Ghana) is often referred to as an e-waste dump, but can also be described as an informal processing site for various kinds of scraps and used materials in addition to e-waste. Surprisingly, it is located close to the center of Accra, the capital of Ghana. Most inhabitants make their living by inventive though environmentally and socially disastrous practices of material recovery. Other important sources of income in Agbogbloshie are trading activities, most prominently the onion trade. Agbogbloshie should be understood as a multi-faceted cluster of social and environmental issues; it is much more complex than typically presented in media discourses.