Germany has built up a complex recycling system in recent years to dispose of electronic waste without harming the environment and to recover whatever looks useful from the components. It was an important thing to do, because social development is driven by digital progress, and that in turn depends on people buying the latest products today and throwing them out tomorrow because they are the stuff of yesterday. Progress and waste are two sides to the same coin. But because electronic scrap had previously just been dumped in Africa, where it poisoned people and the environment, we now have this exemplary, responsible recovery system.

However, a few things are still not clear. For example, why only an estimated third of Germany’s electronic waste actually lands in the recycling scheme while a substantial proportion is still illegally exported. Who is profiting – well organised criminal gangs, electronics manufacturers, or politicians scared to take decisions?

In Remnants of yesterday’s cutting edge, radio presenters go live to various scenes in an effort to expose the questions and the contradictions. What they find is anything but a lone culprit.