E-waste inferno burning brighter

Mountains of discarded remote controls litter the warehouse floor. In a dimly lit room, women on plastic stools pry open the devices, as if shucking oysters, to retrieve the circuitry inside.

In a narrow alley a few blocks over, a father and son from a distant province wash microchips in plastic buckets. Men haul old telephones and computer keyboards off a truck.

Some items will be refurbished and resold, others will be stripped for components or materials such as copper or gold.