Fair Trade Recycling Offsets in West Africa - Phase 1

 Less Blogging. Less Tweeting. Less Opining. More Doing.

World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association - dba "Fair Trade Recycling" doesn't do much fundraising. But I'm extremely proud of our contributions.

We have launched the next phase of the Fair Trade Recycling "Offset". My company has exported approximately 100 sea containers of working and repairable electronics to Africa since 2001. At approximately 15 tons per containerload, that leaves 1,500 tons of waste generated in African cities like Douala, Limbe, Accra, Lagos, Dakar, Kinshasa, Nairobi to now fund with the profits that both Africa's Tech Sector and OECD Reuse companies made through trade.

The Tech Sector in Africa is not "primitive", and I've long bristled at the fake claims that 80% of what they buy was not reused, but dumped. The photos NGOs used to promote that belief CLEARLY show electronic imported 30 years earlier, collected by the scrap sector from African consumers after decades of repair and maintenance.

That said, Africa has a problem with LITTER COLLECTION. WR3A has funded this study to see how many tons of ocean-bound plastic can be diverted from gutters before rainy season comes. Very proud of our collaboration with Dr. Asi Quiggle Atud - who was 4 years old when I said goodbye to him in Ngaoundal, Cameroon, in 1986.

Reviewing the report this weekend. Thanks Maia Nilsson and Sean Plasse and Laura Dubester for contributing to last year's GoFundMe campaign - and thanks to American Retroworks Inc and other WR3A members for raising the balance.

In phase 2, we'll pit Dr. Q's team of researchers against city scrappers in a contest of who can divert the most litter from city gutters and canals, before the monsoons come. My hope is that Plastic Manufacturing companies will then pitch in, and help "Offset" the packaging Africans rely on for food and drink in Emerging Markets.

#circulareconomy #fairtraderecycling

If Recyclers like my company commit to helping valedictorians lead efforts to collect and offset one ton of litter for every ton we have exported for reuse, we can establish a model for the Petrochemical and Plastics Trade Associations to follow.

"Might as well be me."

Thanks to the three or four people who contributed to our GoFundMe campaign. I matched the gifts 30 fold, personally, because I believe we have to do something.  I'm not a good fundraiser. But I have this unique perspective that Africa City Dumps aren't full of just coconut shells and banana peels, and that the Techs of Color who created the #criticalmassofusers that led to Mass Communications (my Dad was professor of that at U of Arkansas and Fresno State, a graduate of University of Missouri Journalism school).

Let's want to offset 1500 tons in 5 years. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Less blogging. Less tweeting. More doing.<br><br>Fair Trade Recycling Offset entering phase 2. Impressive report by Doctor Q - Asi Quiggle Atud of University of Cameroon.<br><br>I&#39;m committed to offsetting 1,500 tons of waste from African cities.<a href="https://t.co/RBE7kjd5p2">https://t.co/RBE7kjd5p2</a> <a href="https://t.co/EW4u01BMwN">pic.twitter.com/EW4u01BMwN</a></p>&mdash; Robin I (@WR3A) <a href="https://twitter.com/WR3A/status/1444319882837995520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>