HP helps Africa with recycling standards

HP is working with international development groups to improve computer recycling practices in four of its fastest-growing African markets.

According to United Nations (UN) estimates, 30 per cent of the world’s obsolete electronics ends up in Africa.

The continent must contend with waste shipped in from overseas, much of it illegally, and the output of burgeoning domestic IT sales.

Anecdotal evidence from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) suggests staggering volumes of discarded foreign PCs.

“An estimated 500 containers of used computer scrap enter Nigeria each month,” says a report from the Basel Action Network, a lobby group specialising in e-waste issues.

“We believe the used electronics trade in Nigeria is but one example of what is taking place every day in the ports of developing countries worldwide, and certainly in Africa,” it says.

The domestic IT market is also growing fast, and global hardware firms are seeing hugely increased sales in the more developed African countries.

Recycling is a potentially lucrative industry and most African countries already have an active commercial market.

But, unlike in Europe, the sector is largely unregulated. And fierce competitive pressure can lead to corner-cutting.

In many African countries, regulations need to be strengthened to meet the growing pressure, said HP takeback compliance manager Kirsty Macintyre.

“The amount of IT selling in Africa is increasing and we want to have proper recycling infrastructures in place before it is too late,” she said.

HP will work with two NGOs - ­the Global Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) and the Swiss Institute for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) -­ to educate recycling firms about the benefits of adhering to environmental best practice.

Schemes in Tunisia, Morocco and Kenya are at an evaluation stage and a programme is already up and running in South Africa.

Once standards have been developed, the partnership will lobby the relevant governments to ensure that they are met across the recycling industry.

“We want to put policies and government representatives in place so that when we withdraw, those policies are self-imposed,” said Macintyre.

A key challenge will be to give the schemes a commercial edge. Foreign agency developments often fail when the lead organisation withdraws. So ensuring the programme is run as a business will encourage participation, said DSF e-waste project manager Cissé Kane.

“We must show people they can make money and create jobs with our schemes,” he said.

The programme should also help meet concerns about the ethics of shipping obsolete electronics abroad.

The UN estimates reuse can be 20 times more effective at saving energy than recycling. But if the hardware ends up in a landfill site, shipping it overseas just defers the problem.

The danger is that schemes can encourage the view that PCs appear from nowhere and disappear equally easily, according to Empa project manager Mathias Schluep.

“When a PC reaches the end of its life, it still has to be recycled ­ it is just in Africa rather than in Europe,” he said.

“Some of these shipping charities are just glorified dumping schemes.”