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Readings
- The European Union’s Waste Electrical
and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive is
a legal document that lays out the legal
requirements for disposal of Europe’s Waste
Electrical and Electronic computers – including
PCs. This directive was approved by the
‘European Union’ at Brussels on 8th November
2002. The directive states that businesses are
no longer allowed to simply dispose of their
equipment in skips or landfills, as has been
possible until now.
It is worth reading as it
is likely to form the basis for African e-waste
legislation in the future. The Directive aims to
reduce the waste arising from electrical and
electronic equipment and to improve the
environmental performance of all those involved
in the life cycle of electrical and electronic
equipment
- A European waste disposal company called
Tassit explains why the requirement for
environmentally sound waste disposal is
necessary due to chemicals such as lead,
cadmium, mercury and chromium found in waste
computers. A list of natural resources used in
the manufacturing of desktop computers in this
document called materials used in the manufacture
of PCs.
- This presentation by the International Association of
Electronics Recyclers (IAER) defines the
problem of electronic waste (which components of
electronic goods are hazardous), it illustrates
the speed at which the numbers of end-of-life
PCs are growing in the USA, it looks at the
recycling pipeline for electronic waste, and it
looks at the growing recycling industry in the
USA. It suggests that there is a growing market
for the establishment of electronics recycling
companies around the world.
- This presentation on e-Waste capacity building in
South Africa is an interesting case study about
e-Waste in an African context.
- The UK Department for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs published this Duty of Care statement in 2000
to inform UK citizens about their
responsibilities when it comes to the hazardous
waste that they generate. Managers of Technical
Service Centres in Africa should hold themselves
to a similar duty of care when it comes to
disposing of their centre’s e-waste.
- The SchoolNet Africa report on Refurbished
Computers in African schools indicates that it
is vital that roles with regard to the disposal
of end-of-life PCs in Africa are defined. Models
for establishing local recycling and salvage
companies also need to be investigated as soon
as possible. One electronic recycling company
that was identified as a good case study is DESCO Electronic Recyclers, a
professional electronic-component recycling
outlet currently used by NetDay in Johannesburg
to recycle their end-of-life PCs.
- Managers of Technical Service Centres should
rather acquire PCs from donors who include
disposal considerations in their donations
(either through offering financial support or
through taking Retour end-of-life PCs themselves).
One such donor organization is Digital Links in the UK.
- Negotiation of a disposal strategy with PC
donor organizations will be covered further in
Module 6 of this course. The purpose of this
module has been to highlight why this is an
important consideration in the Set-up of a
Technical Service Centre.
Retour-up Resources/Additional
Info
http://www.schoolnetafrica.net/
http://www.eiae.org/
www.reclamere.com
http://www.tassit.co.uk/
http://www.iaer.org/
The World Wildlife Fund’s
definition of ‘recycling waste’
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