250 Eiffel Towers' worth of waste: The AI boom's toxic hardware problem

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. E-waste is an environmental hazard. The AI data center boom could amplify the problem. Waste pickers want a say in the solution. Solomon Njoroge started picking waste at the Dandora dumpsite when he was a child. He's seen other waste pickers, who work long hours in the 40-acre landfill outside Nairobi, Kenya, suffer asthma, miscarriages, cancer, and respiratory diseases. A dumpsite like Dandora isn't one person's fault, but rather a literal pileup of choices made by governments, companies, and individuals, going back decades, about how to dispose of the junk and refuse no one wants -- and where to put it. While the Earth has been drowning in garbage for years, the modern era has introduced a new toxic ingredient: electronic waste, or e-waste. Also: The cloud vs. clouded leopard: America's data center backlash on display at Nashville Zoo E-waste sounds much cleaner than it is. This category of waste is made up of all the TVs, computers, cellphones, and more that people pitch when those devices…