21st Century Shipbreakers

These workers are sorting plastic by heating it with a cigarette lighter and sniffing the fumes. They complained of headaches.

This reminds me of the shipbreaking villages in India.

The scrap metal to be had from such an operation could be profitably sold, because of the growing need in South Asia for low-grade steel, primarily in the form of ribbed reinforcing rods (re-bars) to be used in the construction of concrete walls. These rods, which are generally of a poor quality, could be locally produced from the ships' hull plating by small-scale "re-rolling mills," of which there were soon perhaps a hundred in the vicinity of Alang alone. From start to finish the chain of transactions depended on the extent of the poverty in South Asia. There was a vast and fast-growing population of people living close to starvation, who would work hard for a dollar or two a day, keep the unions out, and accept injuries and deaths without complaint. Neither they nor the government authorities would dream of making an issue of labor or environmental conditions.

(William Langewieshe article from The Atlantic Monthly, who has also written the fascinating piece on unbuilding the WTC.)

via svn