Assessing the e waste situation in Africa Mathias Schluep

Assessing the e-waste situation in Africa Mathias Schluep*1, David Rochat1, Alice Wanjira Munyua2, Salah Eddine Laissaoui3, Salimata Wone4, Cissé Kane5, Klaus Hieronymi6 1 2 Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa), St. Gallen, Switzerland Kenya ICT Action Network (KiCTAnet), Nairobi, Kenya 3 Moroccan Cleaner Production Centre, Casablanca, Morocco 4 African Institute for Urban Management (IAGU), Dakar, Senegal 5 Global Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF), Geneva, Switzerland 6 Hewlett Packard GmbH, Böblingen, Germany * Corresponding Author, mathias.schluep@empa.ch, +41 71 274 7857 Abstract Based on experiences gained in the “Global Swiss e-Waste Programme”, a generic e-waste assessment methodology was developed. The methodology is currently applied within the project “e-Waste Management in Africa”, which was launched in 2007 by Hewlett Packard, the Global Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa). e-Waste assessment studies were started in Morocco, Kenya and Senegal and South Africa. Based on the standard methodology, the studies map the relevant stakeholders, estimate e-waste stocks and flows through a massflow assessment, analyze the policy landscape, as well as the social, economic and environmental impacts of e-waste in the countries. Besides a coherent discussion of the methodology this paper presents some preliminary results from various African countries. methodology is to cover similar aspects in various countries in a systematic manner, so that the results may be comparable and easily updated. This paper presents the most important elements of the methodology. It aims to provide guidance to any researcher to conduct an e-waste country assessment study. In addition the paper presents a few preliminary results from assessment studies, which are currently performed in various African countries. 1 Introduction Managing e-waste flows in developing countries, especially in Africa, where the fight against digital divide is promoting massive imports of used and new computers, has become one of the major challenges of the continent in the field of waste management [1, 2]. In order to implement the most suitable e-waste management system, and to present a bankable project to international funding agencies, it is necessary to acquire a detailed knowledge of the current situation in a relatively short time. However it has often appeared that it is not an easy task to make an assessment of the e-waste landscape in a developing nation, where access to data may be difficult, and where e-waste management largely relies on an informal sector not covered by statistical data [3]. Thus, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa) has developed an ewaste assessment methodology, based on the experience gained in the several partner countries of the “Global Swiss e-Waste Programme” [2] 1 . The methodology was further developed into a generic guidance manual for the HP-DSF-Empa project “e-Waste Management in Africa” [4] in Kenya, Morocco, Senegal and South Africa. The objective of a generic 1 2 Assessment process The first step consists in defining the organizational setup of the assessment study. This not only means structuring the assessment team, but also identifying the local stakeholder(s) to whom the study results will be delivered, and who will take ownership of the ewaste problem in the country. The assessment team comprises an international expert, experienced with the methodology and assessments in various countries, and a local expert who actually conducts the study in the field. The assessment team is supervised by a steering committee composed of members of the funding agency and the programme management. In order to deliver results to the relevant stakeholders, and to respond to the country's expectations regarding e-waste management, the general adopted approach http://ewasteguide.info Electronics Goes Green 2008+, 8-10 September 2008, Berlin/Germany 1 consists in setting up a so called national e-waste strategy group, comprising representatives of relevant stakeholders related to the e-waste problem. This national group is headed by a local leader, generally from the ministry of environment (but not exclusively), and comprises representatives of the IT industry, various ministries, economic sectors, NGOs and academia. The constitution of such a multistakeholder platform ensures that the further implementation of a proper e-waste management system will not be rejected by one or another interest group, as all strategic decisions resulting from the assessment study are debated and adopted within the group. Steering committee - funding agency - programme management roadmap for implementing a proper e-waste management system in the country is drafted. Both the assessment report and the roadmap are then used as background documents for fund raising for an implementation phase. 3 3.1 Assessment methodology Project scope and objectives National e-waste strategy group Assessment team - international expert - local expert - government - industry - academia - civil society - other interest groups The objective of the project is explicitly defined as being to support the development of a sustainable ewaste management system in the country, where existing formal or informal structures are considered. Besides logistical and technical issues the project especially aims to provide the necessary information to improve the working conditions of the informal sector and to create new employment opportunities. It is intended to obtain a reliable overview of the e-waste landscape in the selected country. The scope of the assessment study has to be defined by geographical focus, as well as by equipment category. The geographical focus defines which cities and/or regions will be focused on, whether rural areas are considered and if transboundary movement is included in the study. Finally, the modes of data acquisition are also defined and planned. Typically, the following sources of information are used: • Literature review and statistical data: this allows to check the current knowledge about e-waste management in the country by reviewing specialised websites, databases and studies. • Meetings and workshops: allows the local expert to obtain information that would not be available publicly directly from stakeholders, such as internal inventories, ISO audits, surveys, etc. Field investigation: this allows the local expert to complete information with photos, identification of areas of activities and general observations. If needed, relevant questionnaires are developed and surveys are conducted. Figure 1: Organizational setup of an e-waste assessment study Chronologically, the study starts with a first mission (usually one week) of the international expert comprising the following objectives: • The mobilisation of local stakeholders and constitution of the national e-waste strategy group. This results from a round of discussions with relevant stakeholders, where the scope of the project and their participation and support is discussed. The national group is formally constituted during an initial workshop, where the objectives of the assessment study are explicitly formulated and agreed upon. Generally, a press release follows the workshop, which ensures that the public is informed and that the national group actually takes ownership of the e-waste problem • The technical training of the local expert. The local expert is introduced to general knowledge about e-waste management issues and is trained to the methodology. The different steps of the assessment are planned and objectives and deadlines are fixed. After the international expert's first mission, the assessment is conducted for a duration of approximately 6 months. The results of the study are presented in a technical report, which is submitted to the national ewaste strategy group, who will accept it after revision in a second workshop. During this workshop, both the findings of the assessment study are exposed, and a 3.2 Country background In order to define which alternatives exist for implementing an e-waste management system in the country, it is necessary to understand the country's characteristics. Therefore, this section comprises first a review of pre-defined development indicators (Table 1), which provide a background for the country's development status that may influence e-waste generation and management, and provide a basis for comparison between countries. Electronics Goes Green 2008+, 8-10 September 2008, Berlin/Germany 2 Table 1: world development indicators [5] with possible influence on e-waste People • Total population • Average annual population growth rate • Share of economically active children • Unemployment • Youth unemployment • Population below international poverty line (Population bellow 1$ per day, population below 2$ per day) • Gini index Economy • Gross domestic product (GDP) • Purchasing power parity (PPP) conversion factor • GDP per capita • GDP (PPP) per capita • GDP composition by sector (agriculture, industry, services) • Labour force by sector (agriculture, industry, services) • Consumer price index Environment • Land area • Emissions of organic water pollutants • Energy use • GDP per unit of energy use • Rural population • Urban population • Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million • Population in largest city • Household size States & Markets • Micro, small, and mediumsize enterprises • Tax revenue collected by central government • Telephones access • Households with television • Personal computers per 1000 people • Internet users per 1000 people • Information and communications technology expenditures (% of GDP) 3.3 Stakeholder analysis The purpose of this section is to identify the actors involved and their role in the e-waste management system by groups of stakeholders, by explaining who they are, what their role is, how they are organized and what may be their impact on e-waste management. Moreover, their specific interest in e-waste management is qualified by understanding what their motivations are and what strategies they can adopt to achieve their goal. Each group of stakeholders is characterized by a set of qualitative and quantitative indicators, which will also provide the necessary data for calculating the e-waste mass flows further in the assessment (Table 2). 3.4 Mass flow assessment The stakeholder analysis in the previous section has allowed to map the interconnections between the different actors potentially involved in the current ewaste management practices, and provides a qualitative description of the "e-waste landscape" in the country. The characterisation of the stakeholder groups also provides information, which will allow quantifying the e-waste stocks and mass flows. The mass flow assessment is a way to describe and quantify flows and stocks of a studied material in a simplified model [6]. The model is characterised by the boundaries of the system it represents, and by fixing variables such as mass and time units (e.g. tons/year), as well as by the flows and stocks which are included in its limits. In general, a mass flow model relies on two families of equations: 1. The mass balance equations, based on the mass conservation law: ∆S = ∑Fin - ∑Fout, where: - In addition, the country's political and legal framework needs to be understood, by collecting the following information: E-waste related policies and legislations: • General environmental legislations applying to air, water, solid waste, hazardous wastes, etc. • Specific legislation applying to e-waste, if any • Social legislations / policies applying to workers of the recycling chain, e.g. regulating child labour, freedom of association, programs fostering employment in the informal sector,etc. • International treaties and conventions, such as the Bamako convention and the Basel convention Institutional framework: • Organization of the legislative, the executive and the judiciary systems with a special emphasis on environmental management • Governmental bodies related to environmental management and e-waste at national and if important at local level, such as ministries, administrations, etc. ∆S is the variation of stock in a process ∑Fin is the sum of flows entering a process ∑Fout is the sum of flows leaving a process 2. The parametric equations, where flows and stocks of the system are interdependent and can be mathematically related: Fi+1 = f(ki+1; Fi, S), where - F is a flow - S is the stock - k is the transfer coefficient These two sets of equations allow extrapolating all flows and stocks from a given value, for example the sales of equipments in a region. The transfer coefficients may be parameters such as market shares, life spans of equipments, etc. Finally, once the mass flows are calculated, a graphic representation can be made on a simplified figure such as the mapping of stakeholders. Electronics Goes Green 2008+, 8-10 September 2008, Berlin/Germany 3 Table 2: List of stakeholders involved in e-waste management Stakeholder Group Producers (including manufacturers & importers) Description Hardware brands and their associations (IT association, consumer electronics, electronic components, etc...), but also of "unidentified" producers, when the equipments are non branded. Anybody selling the equipments directly to the consumers, including retailers, 2nd hand markets, organisations providing donated equipments, etc. Anybody that consumes electric and electronic equipments and discard them as waste when they have reached the end of their useful life. Consumers are usually separated between households, private sector (large and small & medium sized enterprises) and public sector (government, education, NGOs) Can be collection points (municipal points, drop-offs, retail shops) or an organised pick-up service (formal or informal) comprises all the repair units, service centres, etc, that extend the life time of equipments and feed the second hand market Any organization dismantling, separating fractions, and recovering material from e-waste. the industries buying the fractions (e.g. copper, plastics, metals, gold, etc.) produced by the recyclers. They can be national or international, and vary from jewellers to smelters, etc.. Organizations in charge of the final disposal of waste through incineration or landfilling. Type of information collected (qualitative / quantitative) Marketing strategy, CSR programs, special economic schemes, etc. Brands and market shares, growth, number of employees, % import vs. domestic, number of SMEs, etc. Modes of distribution, business models, take-back schemes, etc. Number of retail shops, importance of 2nd hand markets, % retail vs. 2nd hand market Level of environmental awareness, waste management habits, access to ITC technology, etc. % private vs. corporate, % rural vs urban, life span of equipments, penetration rate (# equipments/1000 cap.), e-waste generated/cap. Organised or left to informal sector? Does the consumer pay or is he paid for e-waste? Take-back schemes? E-waste collected/cap., employment generated, income per ton e-waste, etc. Organisation of the sector, formal or informal, etc. % of repairable equipments, e-waste produced by a repair shop, lifespan of refurbished equipments, etc. Organisation of the sector, formal or informal, disposal of hazardous fractions, etc. Employment generated, resulting fractions, income per ton, % formal vs. % informal. Which kind of industry, local or international, formal or informal, etc. % of raw material coming from e-waste, income per ton, etc. Private or public, restrictions for landfill space, controlled or wild landfills, infrastructure for hazardous waste, etc. Landfill capacity, hazardous waste capacity, characterisation of solid waste stream, % formal vs. % informal, etc. Serious health risks to the community, quality of jobs, impact on other socio-economic activities, etc. Cases of negative health impacts, number of jobs provided, share of low-skilled jobs provided, etc. Distributors Consumers Collectors - Refurbishers - Recyclers Downstream vendors - Final disposal Most affected communities Other stakeholders Communities that have – by close neighbourship relations to collection points, recycling centres or disposal areas – key interests in the development of an e-waste management system, such as the sector’s economic possibilities or interests in limiting soil, water and air pollution. Institutions having the capacity to support the implementation of an e-waste management system within the country - - Active in solid waste management, working with informal workers, international funding agencies, university institutes, etc. 3.5 Impact overview Table 3: Impact categories Social Impacts • Impacts on employees • Impacts on local communities • Impacts on society Environmental Impacts • Emissions to air and water • Solid waste production • Impacts on human health • Pressure on resources • Pressure on ecosystems Economic Impacts • Positive impacts (income generation) • Negative impacts (induced costs) This section does not cover a thorough impact assessment, as it would be beyond the scope of a rapid assessment. It is rather meant to highlight in a qualitative way where the priorities are from a social, environmental and economic standing point (Table 3). Electronics Goes Green 2008+, 8-10 September 2008, Berlin/Germany 4 3.6 Conclusions and Recommendations Finally, the e-waste assessment analyses broadly the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks (SWOT analysis) of the country for the implementation of a sustainable e-waste management system, based on the results of the previous sections. This analysis allows to formulate recommendations for the following fields: • Policy and legislation • Industry involvement and producer responsibility • Technology and infrastructure • Monitoring and data collection • Awareness and education • National and international exchange platforms Then national e-waste strategy group can then use the rapid e-waste assessment's findings and the recommendations to draft a roadmap and to raise funds for an implementation phase. nicipalities it was also found that some have a potentially negative impact on recycling or collection activities insofar as hazardous waste, storage, collection and transport are concerned. While it is debatable to what extent e-waste should be treated in the same manner as other hazardous waste in terms of collection, storage and transport, it nonetheless poses a possible difficulty for e-waste recyclers [8]. 4.2 Kenya: life span of equipments In Kenya a mini - survey was conducted among ~30 consumers from the private sector, the public sector (government and NGO’s) and households [9]. The research noted that 90% of the respondents have discarded ICT accessories of some kind. In particular, 70% have discarded desktop computers and monitors, 50% have discarded notebook computers, printers, telephones, photocopiers, and fax machines while 40% have discarded modems and finally 20% have discarded flat screen (LCDs), mobile phones and televisions. Over 50% of the consumers indicated that they possessed computers for over 5 years, after which they either gave them to friends or donated them to schools (Figure 2). Further, 60% indicated that the equipment was in a broken and un-fixable state by the time they discarded it while 10% indicated that it was in a broken but fixable condition. Only 20% indicated that it was in a working condition. 4 4.1 Case studies: preliminary results South Africa: legislation governing e-waste Assessments in all the project countries suggest that while governments are aware of the e-waste challenge, specific policy and legislative mechanisms to deal effectively with e-waste are not yet in place. This does not imply that those countries have no legislation covering hazardous substances or waste, or the management and disposal thereof. Answers are certainly found in laws governing topics like the environment, water, air, waste, hazardous substances as well as health and safety [7]. Each of these, however, examines the issue from a different perspective, thereby confusing the problem. As found in a detailed review of South African legislation governing e-waste [8] a further difficulty is the fact that these laws are enforced by different government departments, alternatively levels of government, so that there is no uniform approach in dealing with e-waste or hazardous waste respectively. In South Africa waste and the management thereof is a function delegated to local authorities by-laws which differ from one municipality to the other. While this, in practical terms, does not affect e-waste management per se, some by-laws theoretically would allow greater control over the same. Here too, e-waste would merely fall under the broad definition of hazardous waste, and as such requiring disposal or treatment. During the review of by-laws from five mu- 50 Percents of respondents 40 30 50% 20 10 10% 0 0.1 - 1 1-2 4-5 over 5 20% 20% Period of use before disposal (years) Figure 2: Results from a survey in Kenya about life span of personal computers [9] 4.3 Morocco: waste generation In Morocco stocks in households where estimated based on the penetration rate and national statistics Electronics Goes Green 2008+, 8-10 September 2008, Berlin/Germany 5 [10]. Stocks in the private and public sector were derived from surveys and statistics. The lifespan of computers within each consumer group was determined with surveys. The resulting computer waste flow was calculated by dividing the stock by the lifespan. The private sector has the largest computer stocks and generates two thirds of the related waste flow as the useful life of a computer is shorter than in other consumer groups (Table 4). Nevertheless, the computer penetration rate in households is growing at a pace above 20 % per year, and the waste flow from households will significantly increase in the future. Moreover, the survey showed that 75 % of computers in households where a year old, which characterises a relatively "young" stock. This corresponds to the recent increase of living standards due to the growing economy of the past few years. Table 4: computer stocks and waste generation in Morocco in 2007 [10] Stock (2007) Consumer (t) Households Private sector Public sector Total 27'000 38'000 2'500 67'500 (%) 40 56 4 100 Lifespan (years) 5 3 5 Computer waste generation (2007) (t/y) 5'000 13'000 500 18'500 (%) 28 70 2 100 conclusions are only made on the basis of assumptions and reasoning. • The standardised approach offered by the methodology sometimes leads to confusion, as some common expressions are understood differently among stakeholders and cultures. 6 Literature 5 Conclusion The first experiences when applying the methodology in African countries indicate that the main objective to provide a general overview of the e-waste management situation can be achieved. Based on the assessment's results, all studied countries possess the necessary information for defining a roadmap towards a proper e-waste management system. Nevertheless, the first surveys also revealed some difficulties and necessary adjustments: • The methodology cannot be applied without a proper technical training and regular follow-up through an experienced expert. • The mass flow analysis often relies on poor data and only provides a rough assessment. Hence controlling the e-waste stream asks for a proper monitoring system and cannot rely on the methodology alone. • Illegal and unregulated imports of second hand equipments remain difficult to assess, so that [1] Osibanjo O. and Nnorom I.C., The challenge of electronic waste (e-waste) management in developing countries. Waste Management & Research, 2007. 25(6): 489-501. [2] Widmer, R., et al., Global perspectives on ewaste. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 2005. 25(5): p. 436. [3] Streicher-Porte, M., et al., Key drivers of the ewaste recycling system: Assessing and modelling e-waste processing in the informal sector in Delhi. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 2005. 25(5): p. 472-491. [4] DSF, Hewlett-Packard, Empa and the Global Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) join forces to improve e-waste management in Africa. HP-DSFEmpa project “e-Waste Management in Africa”, brochure 09/2007, http://www.dsffsn.org/cms/content/view/233/lang,en/ [5] World Bank, World Development Indicators. Washington DC, USA, 2007. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. [6] Brunner, P.H. and H. Rechberger, Practical Handbook of Material Flow Analysis. 2003, Boca Raton, FL: Lewis Publishers. 332. [7] Sinha-Khetriwal, D. et al. Legislating e-waste management: progress from various countries. elni Review, 1+2/2006, p. 27-36. [8] Dittke, M. A review of South African environmental and general legislation governing ewaste. Final report 2007. e-Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA), 42 p., http://ewasteguide.info/Dittke_2007_eWASA [9] Waema, T. and Mureithi M., e-waste management in Kenya. Draft final report June 2008. Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet), Kenya. HP-DSF-Empa project “e-Waste Management in Africa”. [10] Laissaoui S.E. and Rochat D, Rapport technique de l'état des lieux de la gestion des e-déchets au Maroc. Draft final report June 2008. Moroccan Cleaner Production Centre (CMPP) and Empa Switzerland. HP-DSF-Empa project “e-Waste Management in Africa”. Electronics Goes Green 2008+, 8-10 September 2008, Berlin/Germany 6