The first ever Zambian Electronic Waste Recycling Company called TCH E – Waste Zambia in collaboration with the European Union Commission – EUC has been launched. The electronic waste system will focus on collecting, sorting, exporting parts of e-waste and shipping for final disposal in an e Contact online >>
The first ever Zambian Electronic Waste Recycling Company called TCH E – Waste Zambia in collaboration with the European Union Commission – EUC has been launched. The electronic waste system will focus on collecting, sorting, exporting parts of e-waste and shipping for final disposal in an environmental friendly manner.
The company is set to begin its works in the next few weeks as it is in the process of finalizing its license from the Zambia Environmental Management Agency – ZEMA.
Speaking at the launch event of the e-waste system in Lusaka on November, 7 2019, TCH E-Waste Zambia representative Malcolm Whitehouse said most individuals are bound to store e-waste due to lack of solutions hence the newly launched system will address e-waste challenges in the country.
He added that the company is further in the process of developing campaigns with government to create awareness in various parts of the country and educate individuals in communities and schools on the importance of recycling waste.
And Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority – ZICTA Director General Patrick Mutimushi said it is timely to have new partners such as TCH E-Waste on board as failure to close the loop on e-waste such as computers and other ICT equipments could lead to significant adverse environmental impact.
Mutimushi said measuring e-waste is an important step towards addressing the e-waste challenges as statistics help to evaluate developments over time, set and assess targets and identify best practices in policies.
"It is my sincere hope that TCH E-Waste will hit the ground running by putting in place a working business model that will not only clean the environment but also create employment by creating a well-defined value chain for e-waste recycling, incorporating all stakeholders," he said.
At the same event Zambia Environmental Managements Agency – ZEMA Inspector Chrispine Simwanza said the company has fulfilled its regulatory procedures hence suitable to acquire a license adding that a lot of research was done by the Agency before the company could be allowed to handle e-wastes.
Simwanzi has since called for support from various stakeholders and players in the ICT sector towards this initiative to ensure the chain is properly managed stating that mostly waste starts from importation hence the need to regulate the gadgets before entry.
The Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa (BGFA) was established in 2019 with the aim to accelerate the creation of sustainable markets for distributed and stand-alone off-grid energy services in rural and peri-urban Africa based on the on-going Beyond the Grid Fund for Zambia (BGFZ), initiated by Sweden. The BGFA is a EUR 60 million programme which aims to support solar home systems and mini-grids in Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia. It is launching its first Call for Proposals in September 2020.
Sustainable management of solar e-waste is an emerging priority for the off-grid sector in Africa. Solar home systems typically consist of one or more photovoltaic modules (PV), components to provide light or charge electric devices and battery storage. Depending on the component quality, these products are typically used for 3-5 years, although refurbishment and targeted component replacement are emerging practices and can significantly increase the lifetime of the whole system.
Mini-grid installations have much lower cost and environmental impacts as the weight of the battery compared to the weight of the total installation is negligible, and they have a much longer physical life. Increasingly environmental challenges when dealing with end of life off-grid solar products, especially in ensuring proper collection and recycling of waste given that policies, effective regulation and the physical infrastructure to manage e-waste is lacking in most African countries.
While continuing development efforts to enable access to energy in rural areas, BGFA recognises that a broader and coordinated action to ensure proper management of off-grid solar end of life (EOL) products is needed. The starting point for BGFA was that, regardless of legal obligations for take back and recycling (where they exist), alternative models exist or should be encouraged including voluntary approaches and incentives to encourage return of products from consumers.
Informal e-waste recycling activities at Agbogbloshie, Accra, Ghana (Photo: Sofies)
Sustainability advisers Sofies were commissioned to undertake a scoping study in the five countries of operation to guide BGFA''s approach to responsible e-waste management. They found that:
Sofies modelled the waste generation by products expected to be placed on the market by the BGFA programme alone over 2021-2025 (based on projected funding currently available and including the volumes of the current BGFZ) using a sales-lifespan model. As displayed below, Zambia will be by far the greatest contributor of e-waste, also considering BGFZ program started earlier. It is also possible to estimate the total volume of waste lithium batteries generated and the potential implications on the costs and logistics of shipments. The impact of Mini-grids is negligible given the long lifespan of the installation and of the lithium battery itself.
Graph: Overview of waste generated (t) by country and tier
Based on interviews undertaken with BGFZ awardees and other OGS companies, as well as with other programme and donor organisations, Sofies made recommendations for the promotion of best practice in e-waste management. Many of the current BGFZ awardees confirmed that donor requirements have driven them to address looking at the EOL of their operations, leading to many of them to start exploring the current options in terms of waste management. These options, however, were often found to be limited or burdensome and costly. The lack of reliable recycling infrastructure was one of the recurrent themes.
The BGFA Call for Proposals could be used as a tool to incentivise adequate e-waste management practices including:
Each BGFA country is expected to have a Platform for Market Change intended to help anchor the BGFA programme in the target country´s local institutions, ensure local ownership and engagement with relevant market stakeholders (including governmental entities, private sector and financing institutions). The platform''s objectives are to raise the profile of off-grid energy services and solutions, coordinate among stakeholders to promote synergies and avoid duplication of efforts, and to harmonize policies that will minimize market distortions. These could include a sub group to address legal and organisational issues related to e-waste regulation, enforcement or provision of infrastructure.
E-Waste recycling facility at Enviroserve Rwanda Green Park (Photo: Sofies)
A number of activities were identified in the study that go beyond what a single company can do but rather target structural changes/improvements including:
Some of these activities could be undertaken by BGFA individually, others may need to be delivered in partnership with Sweden and other donors, trade associations such as GOGLA and AMDA; and multi-donor programmes such as Power Africa.
All these measures are a work in progress. As a start, BGFA will include requirements for applicants to its Calls for Proposals in autumn 2020 to present e-waste management plans. Specialist technical assistance support may be provided as appropriate. The BGFA also recognises the power of creativity and innovation from its awardees in advancing best practices in their market. In the longer term, BGFA is committed to a journey toward international best practices in responsible e-waste management and contributing to an emerging community of practice in Africa, working collaboratively with practitioners, donors and other stakeholders in the countries of operation.
Written by Ash Sharma, Head of BGFA, NEFCO and Federico Magalini, Director UK Branch, Sofies
Read the report on E-waste Management Recommendations for BGFA Programme written by Sofies, Sustainability advisers
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