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World's dumping grounds

ELECTRONIC WASTE - or "e-waste" - is a growing concern in Africa as the developed world continues to ship its electronic junk to the dark continent where it's inevitably burned, releasing harmful chemicals into the air, or ends up in landfill, where it poisons ground water and has other negative effects. International NGO Greenpeace estimates at least 23 000 metric tons of undeclared electronic waste was illegally shipped to the Far East, India, Africa and China in 2003 from Britain alone.

European entities have been repeatedly caught illegally shipping waste by sting operations conducted by Greenpeace and the media. E-waste is either sent to Africa in the form of "donations" of old computers from European companies or just plain dumped on the continent by unscrupulous third parties contracted to dispose of electronic waste by their clients, who then bribe local authorities to allow the trash in.

Far from benevolent "donations", up to 90% of the computers and gadgets received are unusable. The situation has reached a point where the Nigerian government now quarantines electronic waste shipments or returns them where possible.

South African musician Johnny Clegg is an activist against e-waste dumping in Africa and presented an overview of the situation at the annual Gartner Symposium held in Cape Town last year. Clegg displayed images of burning piles of electronic waste in Lagos (Nigeria) and also illegal dumping sites in South Africa. Clegg says one of the most harmful practices in e-waste disposal is "shredding" - where electronic circuitry is literally ripped apart before being dumped, releasing lead and other harmful chemicals contained in its components.

Says Clegg: "The problem is we don't have proper recycling facilities for e-waste in Africa. Some claim to be recyclers when they're really just separating the waste into separate dumps."

There are significant opportunities in correctly handling e-waste, but the lack of proper recycling facilities means criminal gangs have been reaping the rewards. "The criminal elements associated with e-waste exploit people to collect waste for them. One ton of circuit boards generally yields up to six ounces of gold," says Clegg.

According to international IT research and analysis firm Gartner, there are also no set standards with regard to e-waste disposal. A Gartner study released in November last year reported: "Despite the industry chatter about 'green IT' and environmental sustainability, little has changed when it comes to disposing of PCs. It continues to be operationally intensive, logistically challenging and fraught with risk; and companies are continuing to look for ways to cost-effectively dispose of PCs while managing and minimising their risk."

The bottom line is that the most cost-effective way of disposing of old electronic assets is to ship them off as "donations". However, Gartner suggests the vendors of electronic goods themselves should be involved in the recovery and recycling of their own products. That practice is referred to as "take it back".

To that end Nokia has launched international programmes to collect and recycle not only its own retired cellphones and related products but also those from other manufacturers. Last year Nokia provided drop-off points in SA where customers could dispose of their old cellphones and chargers, which are then recycled.

HP is also spearheading a project to deal with e-waste in Africa, together with the Global Digital Solidarity Fund and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research. The initiative recently unveiled the first results of a pilot project based in Cape Town and carried out in SA, Morocco and Kenya. The pilot was aimed at gathering vital information on how African governments, organisations and society are dealing with the rising problem of e-waste management, as well as test solutions on the way forward. Specifically, a facility has been established for processing e-waste.

"The results have been encouraging. Approximately 60t of electronic equipment was processed at the facility, generating an income of around R126 000 from February to November 2008 that created direct employment for 19 people," says Kirstie McIntyre, who heads environmental compliance for the environmental business management organisation at HP. "The second phase of the project seeks to incorporate informal processing activities that can prove highly effective in dealing with waste by transforming them into sustainable and environmentally sound operations."

Project manager and Empa researcher Mathias Schluep says: "The research has shown a solution is at hand and demonstrated some of the incredible entrepreneurial skills we can tap into in the informal sector in Africa. By providing tools and training we've removed potential environmental and health problems that can be caused by handling e-waste incorrectly. What's more, we've created a channel to full employment for creative minds in the informal sector."

Dealing with Africa's own e-waste is one thing, but the problem of international dumping remains. And while vendors are taking responsibility, customers must also consider their role in dealing with the problem and carefully scrutinise the partners they employ to deal with their old electronics. Until then children in Lagos continue to rummage through burning pyres of the world's electronic waste.

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