NEWS FLASH: Most used computers and electronics found in Africa were purchased and imported at very great expense. There is no incentive to pay for and ship junk. The logic of anti-export organizations - that a few good ones at retail could explain their claim of 80% junk - may work mathematically, but makes no business sense. Why would Africans buy the goods for $20, and pay $19 per unit just to ship each one, and then burn them for $3 worth of copper? Today's Science Daily refers to UN Studies providing us with the truth about e-waste:
Domestic Consumption Main Contributor to Africa's Growing E-Waste Problem
ScienceDaily (Feb. 10, 2012) — In the five countries studied in the report "Where are WEEE in Africa?" (Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria), between 650,000 and 1,000,000 tons of domestic E-waste are generated each year, which need to be managed to protect human health and the environment in the region. The report sheds light on current recycling practices and on socio-economic characteristics of the E-waste sector in West Africa. It also provides the quantitative data on the use, import and disposal of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) in the region. The report draws on the findings of national E-waste assessments carried out in the five countries from 2009 to 2011.
The article takes its news from the report "Where are WEEE in Africa", published by the Basel Convention Secretariat.
FACT CHECK: As fewer rich nations allow surplus e-waste exports to Africa, but demand remains, the quality goes down. There are fewer suppliers to choose from. PROHIBITION ECONOMY 101. The lower the quality, the faster Africa's domestic recycling problem grows. 'War on reuse" makes it worse.
The Solution is obvious to the writers at Science Daily and the Basel Secretariat. Allow import for reuse and repair, and have the companies exporting provide incentives and training to improve the recycling infrastructure. In other words, Basel Secretariat and Science Daily just threw another big log on the Fair Trade Recycling bonfire. Interestingly, the opinions in the Techie Listserve, Slashdot, overwhelmingly side with the obvious... reuse and repair are good, donating to good recycling beats banning bad recycling.
Multiple UN studies now confirm what we've been telling you from the field. Most of the junk discarded by Africans was twice-reused for years, not hauled out of sea containers to avoid recycling fees in rich nations. The used computer stores accept trade ins, but they make their money selling gently used equipment, like Goodwill or Salvation Army. It's simple. Poor techs, geeks of color, prefer to buy and work on rich people's surplus. That's why they import. Rich people discard after 3 years, and unless it's shredded, an African will try to buy it and use it for another ten years. Goodwill, Salvation Army, and St. Vincent de Paul all know, you collect used goods in the rich neighborhoods like Wellesley, you may sell in Mattapan and Southie.
Is the system perfect? No. It needs reform. What Africa needs is the same thing the USA and EU needed fifteen years ago - a cleaner recycling system for the stuff that eventually goes bad. They DON'T need to be cut off the internet, or to be forced to spend half their annual salary on a brand new computer. China has more scrap-economy demand, a different subject (see 2010 E-Waste Travels in Scrap Metal)
Multiple UN studies now confirm what we've been telling you from the field. Most of the junk discarded by Africans was twice-reused for years, not hauled out of sea containers to avoid recycling fees in rich nations. The used computer stores accept trade ins, but they make their money selling gently used equipment, like Goodwill or Salvation Army. It's simple. Poor techs, geeks of color, prefer to buy and work on rich people's surplus. That's why they import. Rich people discard after 3 years, and unless it's shredded, an African will try to buy it and use it for another ten years. Goodwill, Salvation Army, and St. Vincent de Paul all know, you collect used goods in the rich neighborhoods like Wellesley, you may sell in Mattapan and Southie.
From the Basel Study:
The research revealed that there are some specific similarities between the refurbishing and recy-cling sectors in Nigeria and Ghana. In both countries, there is a well-organized repair and refur-bishing sector that is focused on used equipment either from imports or from domestic sources such as businesses and households. In both Accra (Ghana) and Lagos (Nigeria), this refurbishing sector generates income for more than 30,000 people...
One major challenge for West African countries is to prevent the import of e-waste and near-end-of-life equipment without hampering the socio-economically valuable trade of used EEE of good quality. In addition, high volumes of domestically generated e-waste require well-functioning local take-back and recycling systems. Challenges include the establishment of appropriate collection strategies, ensuring that high volumes of valuable and nonvaluable waste fractions are collected equally and that those fractions reach appropriate treatment and disposal facilities. In addition, connecting informal collectors to a formal recycling structure is pivotal, along with appropriate capacity building and training.
Locally adapted recycling technologies for West Africa should make use of the abundant labor force instead of deploying expensive shredding and sorting machinery. To ensure a maximum yield of valuable recycling fractions, West African recyclers should be encouraged to interlink with international recycling companies and networks to develop market outlets for their pre-processed e-waste fractions for a maximized return of value for secondary raw materials. A sustainable e-waste management system would also need an adequate financing scheme, a level playing field and appropriate market incentives. It is thought that similar to policies in OECD countries, e-waste recycling systems in Africa could be developed in line with the principle of Extended Producer Re-sponsibility.
Is the system perfect? No. It needs reform. What Africa needs is the same thing the USA and EU needed fifteen years ago - a cleaner recycling system for the stuff that eventually goes bad. They DON'T need to be cut off the internet, or to be forced to spend half their annual salary on a brand new computer. China has more scrap-economy demand, a different subject (see 2010 E-Waste Travels in Scrap Metal)
