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)

In this November 18, 2014 photo, Murshida, 12, sits on the lap of her mother Marjina as the train leaves for their village in West Bengal, at a railway station in New Delhi, India. Six months ago, Marjina stepped off a train in New Delhi with her two children, hoping to find a better life after her husband abandoned them without so much as a goodbye. The family spent their days at a landfill picking through other people’s garbage to find salvageable bits to resell or recycle. After six months of poverty, illness and shame, they returned to that train station in New Delhi, headed back to an uncertain future to their hometown in West Bengal. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)

Tourists and locals apply colour dust to each other as they celebrate Holi festival in Kolkata, Eastern India, 28 March 2021. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA/EFE)

Indonesian mahouts (elephant masters) bathe elephants prior to a daily patrol at a Conservation Respons Unite (CRU) to control elephant-human conflicts in Serbajadi, East Aceh on April 7, 2016. Elephants have joined the front line in the fight against poaching and illegal logging in the dense jungles of Sumatra. Guided by their Indonesian mahouts, they trek alongside rivers, over rough terrain and deep into the rainforest in an area that is home to numerous endangered species, from orangutans to tigers, but which has suffered devastating deforestation in recent years. (Photo by AFP Photo/Januar)

A forest on a mountain slope next to a township is seen on fire in Dharmsala, India, Monday, April. 25, 2022. Dry pine needles covering the forest floor and high daytime temperatures result in many forest fires in summer months. (Photo by Ashwini Bhatia/AP Photo)

A scavenger sifts through garbage piled on the bank of Beirut river, Lebanon August 24, 2015. Lebanese protest organisers called for a fresh demonstration against the government on Saturday after two days of rallies that turned violent in central Beirut and wounded scores of people. The “You Stink” campaign has mobilised against the government's failure to solve a garbage disposal crisis, bringing thousands of people onto the streets in protests that have threatened the survival of the cabinet. (Photo by Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)

A general view shows sculptures made of waste material titled “Trash People” by German Artist HA Schult (unseen), on April 2, 2014 in Ariel Sharon Park, in the suburbs of Tel Aviv. Hundreds of human-size figures constructed from 20 tons of recycled material, including iron, glass, computer parts, cans and more, will dominate the sky line of Tel-Aviv city and be placed in the park. (Photo by Jack Guez/AFP Photo)

A Cambodian girl goes through the garbage dump looking for things to recycle in order to survive July 26, 2003 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Rampant corruption in this impoverished country has lead to extreme poverty with many Cambodians living below the poverty line. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)