By: Prof. Oladele Osibanjo, Executive Director, BCCC-Africa In Nigeria Side event at Basel/COP Regional Centers Fair May 1 st 2013, CICG, Geneva. Organized by BCCC-Africa/BCRCs in Egypt, Senegal and South Africa in partnership with the “e-waste African Alliance ” WHERE DOES AFRICA STAND ON THE GLOBAL E-WASTE ISSUE?

Overview Of Presentation Introduction Global E-waste Challenge – Africa Nexus E-waste generation and management challenges in Africa Conclusion and recommendations

Introduction NEPAD has recognised information communication technology (ICT) as a critical factor in Africa’s development. ICT explosion is faciliated by the importation of new and secondhand or used computers and mobile phones from developed countries to bridge the digital divide as majority of the African population cannot afford new EEE. Near tsunami generation of E-waste from unsustainable production and consumption of electronic products is the dark side of ICT revolution of modern day development. Africa is one of the destinations of such WEEE but it lacks the capacity and resources for its environmentally sound management

Profile of Africa : According to ITU, about 2 billion people are on the internet, but too few in Africa. Internet penetration is low as 5.6% of the population (13% of global population) use the internet in Africa compared to the world average of 26.6 % However between 2000 and 2008, the number of users in Africa grew by a staggering 1,100 % compared to the rest of the world’s %. Thus Africa is estimated to have one of the fastest if not the fastest internet use growth rate Africa and ICT

Global E-waste Challenge –Africa Nexus  BAN 2005 Film ‘’ Exporting Re-use and Abuse to Africa ‘’ alerted the world about the dangers of externalization ; as well as the potential environmental and human health costs of uncontrollable dumping of E-waste in Africa with Lagos, Nigeria as case study.  BAN Film, Greenpeace outcry and international media focus on the potential harm of unending dumping of E-waste in Africa were probably some of the drivers for the SBC E-Waste Africa Project  Financial support for the project was provided by the European Commission, the governments of Norway and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Dutch Recyclers Association (NVMP)

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7 7 E-waste : Where did it all start and end up ? Known Sources Known and Suspected Destinations Sources: CBS News, Abiresearch, US-EPA, BAN, SVTC

Countries involved: Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tunisia

I.A study on flows of used EEE and e- waste imported into Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria, from European countries II.National assessments and national environmentally sound management strategy III.A socio-economic study on the e- waste sector in Nigeria and a feasibility study of international cooperation between African SMEs and European recycling companies IV. Enforcement programme in Benin, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and Tunisia to prevent illegal transboundary movements of e-waste Project components

In 2005 Africa generated approx. 2% of the worlds PC waste RegionMio PiecesTonnes North America36,7807 Latin America & Caribbean5,9137 Europe24,8549 Middle East2,045 Africa1,639 Central Asia0,922 East Asia25,7595 Total97,72194 Presented at R’09: Mueller E., Schluep M. et al.(2009). Assessment of e-waste flows: a probabilistic approach to quantify e-waste based on world ICT and development indicators. R’09 Twin World Congress, Davos/ Switzerland and Nagoya/ Japan, September.

E-waste Generation in Africa In 2005 Africa generated approx. 2% of the worlds PC waste. Africa’s consumption of EEE is growing fast: PCs x10 and mobile phones x100 over the last decade. This will in turn increase the amount of e-waste generated in the future. in absolute numbers, Nigeria dominates the region in the total amount of used and new EEE imports, total number of EEE in use and the subsequent total amount of e-waste generated. E-waste generated in 2009/2010 were :Benin (9,700 tonnes); Cote d’lvoire (15,000 tonnes); Ghana (179,000 tonnes) and Nigeria (1,100,000 tonnes) respectively In 2010, percent of e-waste generated in Africa has been generated domestically, equating to 650,000– 1,000,000 tonnes of e-waste per annum. By 2017 Africa could generate more e-waste than EU.

… posing various challenges to Africa throughout the material life cycle of EEE Import Consume Collect Refurbish Dismantle Recover Lead Recover Copper Dump WEEE EEE Photos by Empa

GeSI & StEP E-waste Academy 13 Major Challenges to Solving E-Waste Problems In Africa  Absence of infrastructure for appropriate e-waste management,  Absence of legislation dealing specifically with e-waste – only Nigeria has E-waste Control regulations 2011  Non-domestication of Basel, Basel Ban Amendment and Bamako Conventions and problem of near end of life EEE  Absence of any framework for end-of-life (EoL) product take-back or implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR).  Lack of a regional approach since countries have different approaches to the e-waste issue  Inadequate public education and awareness on the environmental and human health problems associated with the uncontrolled importation of near-end-of-life and end-of-life EEE as well as crude processing of e-waste such as dumping on land or water as well as uncontrolled burning.

GeSI & StEP E-waste Academy 14 GeSI & StEP E-waste Academy Repair & refurbish 2. Collect 3. Dismantling / pre-processing Refurbishers Scrap metal workers (sometimes “scavengers”) Structure of E-waste management in Africa : Social Factors

Challenges in E-waste management in Africa: Environmental Aspects  Major environmental and human health impacts result from dismantling, material recovery and final disposal through release of hazardous substances into soil, water and air  Impacts during collection, refurbishment and repair of EEE are less significant  Cable burning is a major source of dioxin emissions. Dioxin emissions to air arising from open burning of e-waste in the 5 West African Countries studied amonts to about 3-7% of total dioxin emissions to air in Europe.  Environmental monitoring in Ghana and Nigeria have provided scientific evidence of gross contamination of soil, ground water, surface water and sediments with heavy metals such as lead, nickel, mercury and BFRs at levels higher than threshold limits established in developed countries  Portend risk factors to attainment of sustainable development and MDGs GeSI & StEP E-waste Academy 15

Challenges in E-waste management in Africa: economic aspects  Thriving scrap market in Ghana and Nigeria  Reasonable good market price for e-waste in informal market Prices for non-reparable equipment in Lagos 2010: CRT-monitor 50 Naira (US$ 0.34) Fridge 100 Naira (US$ 0.67) Desktop PC100 Naira (US$ 0.67)  Thriving export market to Europe for printed circuit boards widening entrepreneurship and economic opportunities  Market opportunities for environmentally sound recycling facilities in Africa leading to intra-regional trade, employment generation and poverty alleviation GeSI & StEP E-waste Academy 16

Africa is moving forward - various activities and initiatives to solve the problem are on the way Studies Recycling pilots Etc., etc. Guidelines, policies, etc.

Conclusion and Recommendations Yes Africa is moving on slowly in finding sustainable solutions to the e-waste challenge. Formation of ‘’e-waste African Alliance ‘’ grew tangentially out of the project However progress varies greatly and the biggest effort still lies ahead in addressing Policy and Legislation including enforcement; Business and Financial models, Technology and Skills acquisition /capacity building, Monitoring and Control, Marketing and Awareness. EU-Africa Enforcement Network on the control of illegal traffic in E-waste, an output of the SBC E-waste Africa project, provides an excellent opportunity in networking in Africa, with EU and the international community. Since capacities are differentiated and variable in different African countries a regional approach would be more efficient and cost effective in developing and implementing solutions. Capacity building acquired during E-waste Africa Project on E- waste Inventory and Country Assessments can be leveraged for sub-regional and regional projects development and implementation. Africa should explore the economic opportunities in e-waste but with adequate environmental and human health safeguards. ex

6/11/ Thank You

For more information visit SBC website : basel. and BCCC-AFRICA in Nigeria website : w