Green electronics

The explosion of high tech laptops, notebooks, smartphones, tablets and other ‘toys’ is creating a worrying trend to the environment conservationists – electronic scrap or what is now being referred to as ‘e-waste’.

Newer, faster and more efficient gadgets are being introduced at a very fast pace. How long do you stay with your old device before catching up with new technology? Three years? Eight? Once you upgrade and get a newer device, how do you dispose of your old one?

Once thrown in the garbage, electronics are collected and trashed at dumpsites, where they are smashed, burned until everything that was once safely ensconced inside spills out and over the course of months, years, and decades, moves into the air, ground, and water.

For instance, in Accra children smash up old computers, tare them apart then burn them to reveal the wires inside. They would later sell these wires to metal buyers as copper. These children got sick, vomited and experienced headaches due to fumes from the burning wires. After which, ashes containing lead, a neurotoxin and cadmium which damages lungs and kidneys is littered on the ground and washed away to the ocean when it rains.

When a single cellphone lies around on the ground, is not a concern. But when billions of these are disposed, they tend to release large doses of chemicals (like Colton in cellphones) to the ground which becomes a health hazard. Critical health concerns such as cancer have been linked to this, for example premature aging and defected damaged genes caused by chemicals which altered DNA structure of workers in China.

In Kenya e-waste is piling up though not as much as in the US, due to the way old and unloved electronics are handled locally. For instance, institutions like “Computer for Schools Kenya” in collaboration with the city council of Nairobi started a plant to recycle old CRT monitors as a way of managing e-waste.

The number of cellphones and PCs that are trashed is overwhelming, mostly cellphones because Kenyan market is flooded with lots of Chinese models that are cheap and tossed once they get spoilt, same to PCs.

Initially before the world environmental laws from organizations like “Greenpeace international” stood firm to control e-waste, there existed unregulated trade in dumping electronics. This is when electronic corporations like Nokia, started making durable handsets that are free from brominated compounds, chlorinated flame retardants and antimony trioxide. Some of the other corporations include Samsung, Phillips, Apple, Sony among others.

Ultimately, Kenya begins to understand the dangers that come from hazardous materials which lay inside electronics. In 2010, Hewlett Packard made a move and established the HP East Africa Computer Recycling plant in Kenya. Located in Mombasa, this facility assesses IT waste for re-use and refurbish if appropriate. The long-term aim of the facility is to capture up to 20 per cent of IT e-waste in Kenya.

In Kenya, the National Environmental Management Association (NEMA) drafted laws in 2008 to guide against e-waste in the country. Since then, citizens have been patronized to have strong green principles towards e-waste from conferences and seminars organized by the body with support from the government.

In order to reduce e – waste in the country, a second solution calls for users to sell their used up but functioning electronics on online classified ad sites, or donate them to a responsible local charity or organization. Navtej Dhadialla, an Apple maniac from CIO East Africa, disposes his old gadgets by selling them off to local stores.