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)

As part of FLAIR Melbourne – a Flinders Lane art festival – Melbourne’s Lisa Minogue presents stylised photographic portraits of Australian women of colour, their faces painted vibrantly to accentuate their individuality and encourage the viewer to study each face more closely. Minogue asked each woman the same question: “What do the words “coloured girl” mean to you?”. (Photo by Lisa Minogue/The Guardian)

The wreckage of a van is overgrown by plants in Simacem village in North Sumatra, Indonesia, November 16, 2015. The village was abandoned following the eruption of Mount Sinabung as it was considered too close to the still rumbling volcano. (Photo by Binsar Bakkara/AP Photo)

A tour group wanders through block 7 of Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania April 30, 2014. Opened in 1829, with the original corrective system of “confinement in solitude with labor”, the penitentiary housed about 75,000 inmates in its 142 years of operation. At Eastern State reunions, former inmates, staff and guard gather to share memories and trade stories and get a chance to describe their experiences in question-and-answer sessions with the public. (Photo by Mark Makela/Reuters)

In this September 17, 2010 file photo a little brown bat is photographed in La Crosse Wis. Researchers for the first time found that little brown bats appear to be showing resistance to white-nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats across North America. (Photo by Peter Thomson/La Crosse Tribune via AP Photo)

New exhibition of sustainable fashion explores the role of tartan in Scottish traditional dance, opening on April 23, 2024 as part of the Pomegranates festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Vengefully Changed Allegiance is asolo exhibition by fashion designer Alison Harm, founder of Edinburgh Psychomoda clothing brand, who uses industry scraps, vintage clot and broken jewellery. (Photo by Sally Anderson/Alamy Live News)

Thai classical dancers perform for Phra Phrom, the Thai interpretation of the Hindu god Brahma, at the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, September 4, 2015. Thai authorities unveiled the restored centerpiece Friday of the Erawan Shrine, in the latest bid to restore confidence among Bangkok's tourism and business communities almost three weeks after a deadly bombing. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)