Where are WEEE in Africa ? Findings From The Basel Convention E-Waste Africa Programme Kieran Flannery

What was the report about? Developed in the framework of the project entitled Building local capacity to address the flow of e-wastes and EEE destined for reuse in selected African countries and to augment the sustainable management of resources through the recovery of materials in e-waste. Discusses the-  Baseline Findings on e-waste in Africa  Socio Economic impacts of E-waste on Africa  flow of EEE and e-waste from Europe to Africa  Prevention of the illegal trans boundary movement of e-waste  Conclusions and recommendations.

1. Impacts of E-waste recycling practices on human health, Environment and climate change Informal activities are present. Mainly focus on recover of copper, steel aluminium palladium, gold, silver, indium,germanium LOST Primary production of metals is energy intensive, expensive and has a significant effect on the environment Mining old computers

2. Socio-economic aspects of e-waste sector in Nigeria & Ghana Both countries had organised repair and refurbishment sectors focused on used EEE imports or from domestic sources. (formal working conditions) Recycling sector – o Informal, carried out by scavengers. o Poor working conditions o Low income o Potential for improvement. o A lot of valuable materials lost.(PWB’s) o Investments being made in expensive heavy machinery, but abundant workforce present!

3. Basel Convention The trans boundary movements of e-waste are subject to the control mechanism under the Basel Convention on the control of trans boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal. E-waste is listed in AnnexVIII as A1180 (hazardous waste) Annex IX as B1110 (non-hazardous waste) REQUIRES A CLEAR DISTINCTION

Imports Benefits  Bridging Digital divide  Creating Trade, Business, employment.  Supports UN millennium development goals.  Better access to lower priced EEE.  Generates jobs. Problems  Lot of waste being imported  e.g. Ghana  generates a lot of e-waste  Near end of life EEE being imported  Not a suitable recycling practice in place.

Recommendations Prevent import of e-waste and near end of life EEE w/o hampering trade. Introduce appropriate recycling facilities. Connecting Informal collectors to formal recycling structure. Make use of abundant labour force instead of expensive machinery. West African recyclers link up with International recycling companies to develop market outlets for materials.

■ Why is this an area of interest/concern from a sustainability perspective for the electronics industry? Recycling of valuable metals as opposed to Primary production. Effects of recycling on the environment & climate change.

QUESTIONS??