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Readings
- The European
Union’s Waste
Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (WEEE) Directive
is a legal document
that lays out the legal
requirements for disposal
of Europe’s Waste
Electrical and Electronic
computers – including
PCs. This directive
was approved by the
‘European Union’
at Brussels on 8th November
2002. The directive
states that businesses
are no longer allowed
to simply dispose of
their equipment in skips
or landfills, as has
been possible until
now.
It is worth reading
as it is likely to form
the basis for African
e-waste legislation
in the future. The Directive
aims to reduce the waste
arising from electrical
and electronic equipment
and to improve the environmental
performance of all those
involved in the life
cycle of electrical
and electronic equipment
- A European waste
disposal company called
Tassit explains why
the requirement for
environmentally sound
waste disposal is necessary
due to chemicals such
as lead, cadmium, mercury
and chromium found in
waste computers. A list
of natural resources
used in the manufacturing
of desktop computers
in this document called
materials
used in the manufacture
of PCs.
- This presentation
by the International
Association of Electronics
Recyclers (IAER)
defines the problem
of electronic waste
(which components of
electronic goods are
hazardous), it illustrates
the speed at which the
numbers of end-of-life
PCs are growing in the
USA, it looks at the
recycling pipeline for
electronic waste, and
it looks at the growing
recycling industry in
the USA. It suggests
that there is a growing
market for the establishment
of electronics recycling
companies around the
world.
- This presentation
on
e-Waste capacity building
in South Africa is an
interesting case study
about e-Waste in an
African context.
- The UK Department
for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs published
this Duty
of Care statement
in 2000 to inform UK
citizens about their
responsibilities when
it comes to the hazardous
waste that they generate.
Managers of Technical
Service Centres in Africa
should hold themselves
to a similar duty of
care when it comes to
disposing of their centre’s
e-waste.
- The SchoolNet Africa
report on Refurbished
Computers in African
schools indicates that
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 also
need to be investigated
as soon as possible.
One electronic recycling
company that was identified
as a good case study
is DESCO
Electronic Recyclers,
a professional electronic-component
recycling outlet currently
used by NetDay in Johannesburg
to recycle their end-of-life
PCs.
- Managers of Technical
Service Centres should
rather acquire PCs from
donors who include disposal
considerations in their
donations (either through
offering financial support
or through taking back
end-of-life PCs themselves).
One such donor organization
is Digital
Links in the UK.
- Negotiation of a disposal
strategy with PC donor
organizations will be
covered further in Module
6 of this course. The
purpose of this module
has been to highlight
why this is an important
consideration in the
Set-up of a Technical
Service Centre.
Back-up Resources/Additional
Info
www.schoolnetafrica.net
www.eiae.org
www.reclamere.com
www.tassit.co.uk
www.iaer.org
The
World Wildlife Fund’s
definition of ‘recycling
waste’
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