How it all started

In March 2011, I started working on informal recycling of electronic waste in Pakistan. Before coming for my field work  I had found only one newspaper clipping from Dawn news( Pakistani newspaper): a report on Exporting Harmful- High Tech Trash of Asia (by Basel Action Network BAN and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition SVTC) and Scraplife Pakistan (Green Peace) which showed that informal recycling and imports of ewaste were taking place in Pakistan. I had an idea of how it was being done looking at examples from China, India and various other African countries but I was not really sure if I would found something similar in Pakistan. Reading through available information I was able to identify Lyari and Shershah in Karachi city as the hubs of ewaste recycling.  However I still planned to look into identifying more sites. I started talking to various stakeholders of the business including various authorities. It came to them as a surprise that these things were happening in Pakistan , some had an idea and were able to help me with information as to where possible sites of such activities could be. Within the first week I started feeling disappointed as I thought I would not find anything: I talked to as many people as I could, many people  mentioned possible sites but no one was sure. One day when I was in a Bazaar to get my mom in laws blender fixed I saw the computer market ( in Rawalpindi) I went in and started asking them what did they do with their old computer and everyone started replying they would sell it to the scrappers. Scrappers??? who were they, where were they, and what did they do after collecting these old computers. Atleast I had found the first clue to the puzzle.