Sustainable development goal target 12.5 is to reduce waste. But with a planet increasingly dependent on technology, is that even possible? As of today, over 30m tonnes of electronic waste has been thrown out so far this year, according to the World Counts. Most e-waste is sent to landfills in Asia and Africa where it is recycled by hand, exposing the people who do it to environmental hazards. Kai Loeffelbein’s photographs of e-waste recycling in Guiyu, southern China show what happens to discarded computers. (Photo by Kai Loeffelbein/laif Agentur)

Soap Bubble Structures by Kym Cox. Bubbles optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This phenomenon makes them a useful tool in many areas of research, in particular, materials science and “packing” – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom, which interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst. (Photo by Kym Cox/2019 Science Photographer of the Year/RPS)

It’s enough to make your head spin. The photographer Katherine Young set out to shoot spiral staircases in London, England to great effect, including this shot she calls the Downward Spiral Part III. (Photo by Katherine Young/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

People in an illuminated cycle rickshaw look at a light installation at the Old Royal Library during the opening day of the "Festival of Light" show in Berlin, Germany, October 9, 2015. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

A man photographs Anila Quayyum Agha's “Intersections” art work on the first day of ArtPrize at the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Wednesday, September 24, 2014. (Photo by Emily Rose Bennett/AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press)

A woman walks past graffiti on a wall in the Williamsburg neighborhood of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York, September 16, 2014. The picture was taken through car window with raindrops. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Atmosphere at the 84th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade held at The Roosevelt Hotel on November 29, 2015 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Zuma Wire/Rex Shutterstock)

Mr. Grindell Matthews with his latest invention, the new photographic gun which is the latest development in sky signs. 1933. It can throw a beam of light 15 miles into the sky. (Photo by Fox Photos)