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While
refurbishment offers the
potential to extend a PC’s
life by as many as five
years, ultimately the PC
will be replaced with newer
technology and hence become
redundant. Until recently
the majority of end-of-life
PCs ended up in landfills,
with very little recycling
of parts, and little concern
for the hazards to the environment
imposed by the lead, mercury
and other toxic substances
they contained.
However, with impending
international legislation
on the manufacture, use,
and disposal of electronic
and electrical appliances
(including PCs), the issue
of how to dispose of end-of-life
PCs in Africa will become
increasingly important.
Not only will African
countries have to become
more vigilant to ensure
that they do not become
a dumping ground for developed
world waste, but the refurbs
that are imported and
reach the end of their
lives in Africa will also
need to be disposed of
appropriately. It is becoming
vital that disposal costs
be factored into the cost-benefit
analysis of importing
second-hand PCs to Africa.
Disposal Activities
Second-hand PCs have
fundamentally become a
waste problem in the developing
world. In South Africa,
the rollout of ICT laboratories
in approx. 30,000 schools
with an average of 25
PCs per school will result
in 750,000 PCs and at
least 60,000 servers that
will need disposing of
by 20141.
Current environmental
policies in Africa are
hopelessly inadequate
to deal with these numbers
of end-of-life PCs appropriately.
There is not currently
a recognized African pipeline
for disposal of end-of-life
PCs, so this is a priority.
The activities required
in disposal can be divided
into a government-related
pipeline and a schools-specific
pipeline.
The government-related
pipeline should include:
- Establishment of
environmental policy
with respect to disposal
of PCs (including instituting
fines for non-compliance
and hiring the resources
to monitor compliance),
- Encouragement of
growth and development
of local recycling and
salvage companies to
strip down end-of-life
PCs,
- Education of schools
(together with all PC
users) about how to
comply with policy and
where to send their
end-of-life PCs, and
- Lobbying of developed
world donors to help
African schools pay
end-of-life disposal
costs.
The school-specific pipeline
of activities should include:
- Inclusion of the
cost of disposal into
acquisition cost when
sourcing sponsorship
for refurbished computer
programmes.
- Disposal of end-of-life
refurbs to appropriate
organizations for recycling.
Disposal Roles
It is vital that roles
with regard to the disposal
of end-of-life PCs in
Africa are defined. Models
for establishing local
recycling and salvage
companies should be investigated.
A possible example to
investigate is DESCO Electronic
Recyclers, a professional
electronic-component recycling
outlet currently used
by NetDay in Johannesburg
to recycle their end-of-life
PCs.
1Nxasana,
T (2003): OSISA Feasibility
Study for Refurbished Computers
in South African Region,
p.28
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