DEVELOPING COUNTRY
PERSPECTIVE
WSIS FORUM 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
BY
DR. A’ISHA USMAN MAHMOOD
NIGERIA
PROBLEM OVERVIEW
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Hazardous e-waste dumping has spread from
Asia to Africa under the disguise of bridging
the so-called digital divide
Resulted in the creation of digital dump with
a global total of about 180m units per year
dumped
E-waste is vast and growing with estimates of
20-50 million tonnes per year generated
world wide (UNEP 2005)
PROBLEM OVERVIEW
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Recent studies(Science Daily, 2010) has
revealed a phenomenal development that by
2016 developing countries will generate twice
as much e-waste as developed countries
Foresees that by 2030 developing countries
will be discarding 400-700m obsolete PCs per
year compared to 200-300m in developed
countries
PROBLEM OVERVIEW
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In countries like China in Asia, the growing
economy has driven its demand for raw
materials hence used electronics exported
there are often recycled
However, in Africa e-waste is exported
primarily for reuse to bridge the digital divide
through donations, illegal trafficking etc
Most of these products (75%, BAN-2005) are
near end- of- life products
E-WASTE IS HAZARDOUS
E-waste contains hazardous
chemicals and metals such as:
lead, cadmium and organic
compounds of chlorine and
bromine which pose significant
threat to the environment and
human health
INFORMAL (CRUDE)
RECYCLING
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e-waste exported to the developing countries
are often handled and disposed of unsafely,
due to lack of capacity and infrastructure for
ESM of used electronics
Dangerous practices include:
Bashing open CRTs with hammers exposing
the toxic phosphorous dust therein
Open burning of circuit boards to melt the
lead solder hence breathing toxic lead fumes
INFORMAL (CRUDE)
RECYCLING
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Dangerous practices include (cont.):
Burning wires to melt the plastics to
recover copper
Open acid baths (nitric-acid) for
seperating metals
Dumping pure acids and dissolved
heavy metals into the soils, drains and
rivers.
SEEING IS BELIEVING!
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In Developing Countries e-waste is
dissembled crudely mostly by unskilled
children and women exposing them to
hazardous materials
( IMAGES COURTESY OF BAN)
Lagos, Nigeria 2005
500 Containers/month for
“Re-use”
75% estimated as “junk”
Contamination Not Yet
Measured
Accra, Ghana 2009
Due to ease of externalization via
globalization, developing countries are
disproportionately burdened by pollution.
CALL FOR ACTION
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Need for stricker controls on the
transboundary movement of e-waste (Basel
Convention)
Need to formulate national legislation to
regulate the reuse of used electronic products
Manufacturers of EE products should be
responsible for their products from the design
stage to final disposal (cradle to grave)
CALL FOR ACTION
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This will prevent the cost of treating
hazardous waste being externalize to the
developing world, which lacks the capacity
Take the lead by voluntarily phasing out all
hazardous chemicals and materials from their
products
Develop effective take back and recycling
schemes for end-of-life products
Formalize the informal recycling sector by
establishing state-of-art recycling facilities in
the developing countries