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)

Participants hang from ropes as they learn how to use safety gears at an experience centre for construction safety training in Beijing, September 5, 2014. The centre which opened in June 2014 was established to educate workers about construction safety. According to the centre, about 1,000 construction workers undergo 3-hour classes which comprises of 33 modules every month. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

In this Friday, February 27, 2015 photo, an Israeli high-school senior preparing to join the Israeli military later this year participates in a privately run training camp for military combat fitness near Yakum, central Israel. With a mandatory three-year military service looming after graduation, teenage boys, and increasingly girls too, are gearing up for the draft, getting into shape and trying to improve their chances of acceptance into elite combat units. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)

Daring motorists entertain spectators by dangerously driving cars and motorcycles on a vertical “wall of death” in Manikgonj, Bangladesh on January 17, 2023. Performers travel without any protective gear at speeds of up to 80 km/h so that their vehicles can balance on the 25 feet high wooden plank. (Photo by Syed Mahabubul Kader/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Members of the Apocalyptic Marauders group in their post-apocalyptic outfits and gear, including a flame thrower in Henrichenburg, Waltrop, Germany on August 13, 2023. Steampunk fans, groups and visitors, many in retro-futuristic or Victorian inspired outfits, have fun on the second day of the Steampunk Jubilee Festival weekend at the historic Henrichenburg boat lift, a listed industrial heritage site landmark. (Photo by Imageplotter/Alamy Live News)

A young person wearing military special forces gear holds a gun in the army village during Memorial Day weekend celebrations in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, 25 May 2024. The two day Hyundai Air & Sea Show event showcases the men, women, technology and equipment from all five branches of the United States Military as well as police, firefighters and first responder agencies. (Photo by Cristobal Herrera/EPA)

In this Thursday, April 16, 2015 photo provided by Robert MacFarlane, a raccoon climbs up a skyscraper in downtown Toronto. Social media was abuzz Thursday with the photo of the raccoon peering from between the metallic rungs of a crane 58 stories high. (Photo by Robert MacFarlane)