14 DAY TRIAL // Multinational computer technology company Dell has announced that, together with E-Waste Solutions Alliance for Africa, it recently cut the ribbon on a large-scale e-waste recycling hub.
The facility, dubbed East Africa Compliant Recycling, is located in Nairobi, Kenya. According to Dell, it is the first of its kind to have ever been built in this part of the world.
The hub will serve to recycle e-waste produced not just in Kenya, but also in the greater East African region, the company details in a press release.
According to Dell, Kenya's National Environment Management Authority will ensure a constant flow of e-waste to the facility. Thus, the Authority has agreed to order electronics companies in the region to collect and recycle specific amounts of e-waste on a yearly basis.
“Developing regulations from Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority will help generate capacity for the new e-waste hub by requiring electronics companies to meet certain thresholds for e-waste collection and treatment,” Dell writes in its press release.
Apart from supporting the setting up of this e-waste recycling hub, Dell has helped piece together an e-waste business model designed especially for developing countries. Kenyan officials, NGOs, and the IT and e-recycling industries have also supported this initiative.
As part of this e-waste business model, over forty shipping container-housed collection points are to be set up across Kenya. People are expected to bring e-waste to these collection points, and receive money in return. Once the collection point reaches full capacity, the e-waste will be sent to the main hub where it will be recycled.
“Each collection point functions as its own independent small business, purchasing e-waste from newly-trained individual collectors.”
“Once a shipping container is filled to capacity, its contents are resold to the main hub where the e-waste will be sustainably processed into material fractions and sold back to the technology industry. Each stage of the model is designed to be profitable for participants, from individual collector to collection point to hub,” Dell says.
Interestingly enough, the computer technology company has also agreed to invest in teaching people how to safely collect and recycle old electronics.
This e-waste recycling initiative in East Africa is expected to both help protect the environment, and create several thousand green jobs in the region.