So we've established that so far, "saving Africa from e-waste" has made a handsome profit for EU Policy makers, NGOs, Big Shred, and lazy photojournalists and prosecutors.
We've established that like USA in the 1990s, Africans have a growing volume of junk televisions and computers. Imported in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, the CRT televisions alone represent a modern "urban mining" project.
The kids at left - ALL of their grandparents had a TV when their parents were born. This is not a "recent import" or "Basel Convention" disorder.
Here's the problem - Africa's Tech Sector, the repair and upgrade professionals, used to be able to sell third hand televisions and computers, collected from African consumers who traded them in or abandoned a repair after 'elective upgrade'. They are increasingly finding it hard to resell 20, 30 and 40 year old "third hand" electronics.
Correctly diagnosing the problem is the first step to treatment. Paying for the solution is the second step.
How to pay for the safe and effective recycling of used electronics abandoned at African repair shops - not by Europeans or Americans, but by African consumers who, eventually, decide not to pay for the repair of a 45 year old television set?
First, stop wasting money on environmental malpractice.
We've established that like USA in the 1990s, Africans have a growing volume of junk televisions and computers. Imported in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, the CRT televisions alone represent a modern "urban mining" project.The kids at left - ALL of their grandparents had a TV when their parents were born. This is not a "recent import" or "Basel Convention" disorder.
Here's the problem - Africa's Tech Sector, the repair and upgrade professionals, used to be able to sell third hand televisions and computers, collected from African consumers who traded them in or abandoned a repair after 'elective upgrade'. They are increasingly finding it hard to resell 20, 30 and 40 year old "third hand" electronics.
Correctly diagnosing the problem is the first step to treatment. Paying for the solution is the second step.
How to pay for the safe and effective recycling of used electronics abandoned at African repair shops - not by Europeans or Americans, but by African consumers who, eventually, decide not to pay for the repair of a 45 year old television set?
First, stop wasting money on environmental malpractice.
