Kenya: E-Waste Becoming a Major Enviroment, Health Concern

KAMPALA (Scrap Monster): Kenya is staring at an electronic waste crisis due to the disposal of high number of devices after a life-span of between two to three years.

The Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) estimates that in the next five years, the country will be struggling with several thousands tonnes of dead cells phones in addition to broken computers, printers, refrigerators, analogue television sets and useless transmitters.

According to a Kenya status report, the country generated 3,000 metric tones of e-waste in 2007. Kenya has no specific national policy on e-waste but the ICT sector policy recognises the problem and places some requirements on CAK and ICT licencees.

At the heart of the problem is the lack of infrastructure and resources to manage end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment and treatment facilities.

This, and the lack of e-waste legislation, have resulted in excessive waste stocks being held by consumers, who are not aware of their impact on health and environment.

Environment Cabinet Secretary Judi Wakhungu says electronic waste will continue to pile up as Kenyans continue to import new and used equipment. "East African Community (EAC) should find a solution to e-waste recycling as facilities cannot be set up in each country right from the start due to capacity constraints and financial challenges," she said in Nairobi recently while opening a workshop on sustainable e-waste management in East Africa.

"We have developed draft e-waste guidelines to streamline procedures of handling and disposal of e-waste generated by various sectors. This is in addition to a draft e-waste regulations expected to be gazetted in the next two months," she said.

Prof Wakhungu says the regulations will facilitate trans-boundary movement of e-waste to create economies of scale and facilitate investment in the recycling sector.

The National Environment Management Authority (Nema) has so far licensed two recycling centres and one facility to handle old florescent bulbs in Kenya. According to the State of Environment Report (2011) released by Unep, global e-waste generation was estimated at about 40 million tonnes yearly.

Kenyan annual e-waste generation includes 11,400 tonnes of old refrigerators, 2,800 tonnes of TVs, 2,500 tonnes of personal computers, 500 tonnes of printers and 150 of mobile phones.

Prof Wakhungu said the informal sector in most of Sub-Saharan Africa collects e-waste and recycles it using crude methods.

This releases to the environment toxic chemicals such as lead, barium, mercury and cadmium to the environment. "This endangers the lives of both the general public and the workers involved in the recycling process. E-waste, when burnt, causes air pollution through release of toxic emissions, some which are known carcinogens. Poor disposal blocks water channels, contaminates land and compromises scenic beauty," Prof Wakhungu says. "Recycling makes business sense because end of life electrical and electronic equipment contain valuable resources and precious metals such as gold, silver, copper, steel, aluminium, and plastics."

Wakhungu says successful treatment facilities will provide environmental and economic benefits. "The recycling industry requires huge volumes of e-waste to ensure sustainability of the treatment process. There is therefore need for a regional cooperation to avail a solution in the East African Region through harmonisation of environmental standards and removal of barriers to avail adequate quantities and enable successful implementation," she says.

The regulations provide a system for identification, collection, sorting, recycling and disposal of e-waste.

The regulations also encourage private sector investment in e-waste.

In the proposals, producers, who include all importers of new and used electrical and electronic equipment as well as local manufacturers, bear the financial costs for collection and recycling plans.

Exports will be permitted after confirmation by environmental authorities that the receiving facilities adhere to environmental laws.

Some private initiatives have already started. Masinde Muliro University, Safaricom, Samsung and Startimes have started take-back initiatives.

East Africa communications organisation executive secretary Hodge Semakula says due to ICTs explosion in Africa, there's an unprecedented importation of high volumes of second hand devices like computers, mobiles phones and TVs, many of which are either obsolete or nearly dead. "Opportunities created by ICTs have given rise to new forms of ICT enabled services like e-education, e-health, e-government and e-banking, which have improved delivery of services to the public," he says.

Semakula says unfortunately, many countries have continued to be dumping ground for analogue TV sets and still continue to import them.

CAK boss Francis Wangusi welcomes the proposals, saying there will be a dramatic rise in the number of mobile connections including handsets, tablets and machine-to-machine devices, to 11 billion by 2020.

Discarded products like mobile phones, old radios, TV sets, refrigerators, fluorescent bulbs contains many of the following dangerous chemicals:

Mercury: It now exists in every light-saving bulb. Exposure - even small amounts - is a threat to the development of foetuses and young children. Mercury may also poison the nervous, digestive and immune systems, and on lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.

Arsenic: May possibly contribute to cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.

Cadmium: Leads to bone pain and severely weakened, fragile bones.

Chromium: Can cause skin irritation and rashes and is potentially carcinogenic.

Copper: Can irritate the throat and lungs and affect the liver, kidneys and other body systems.

Lead poisoning: Can cause impairment of cognitive and verbal activity. Eventually, lead exposure can cause paralysis, coma and death.

Courtesy: www.allafrica.com