There are different ways to make gadgets deliberately obsolete; through its quality, its functionality, and/or its appearance. One of the common methods used by the electronics industry ‘designing for limited repair’.

The story of a teenage boy Aman is common among the 30,000 men, women and children who expose themselves to toxic fumes, acid splashes and lasting injuries in Seelampur, the town where all our old phones go to die.

Nearly a quarter of India’s three million tonnes of e-waste generated every year is dumped in Seelampur. If you live in north India, chances are high that the smartphone you bought last year and trashed because something better came along, went to die here.