E-waste inferno burning brighter in China's recycling capital

This photo taken on August 9, 2014 shows workers dismantling electronic waste at a workshop at Guiyu Township in Shantou City, south China's Guangdong. - AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE

GUIYU, China, Oct 28, 2014 (AFP) - 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 by the shovelful off a truck.