The IT industry's obsession with upgrades, invention and novelty is hard on the environment. That's one reason recycling has been sold as the antidote for the worst of this addiction; we can upgrade safe in the knowledge that our old, forgotten tech is broken down and fed back into the start of the supply chain that ends up with the latest tech.
Hardware vendors have evolved manufacturing process to near science fictional levels of efficiency, but plenty are still stuck in the Victorian era when it comes to product disposal. True, Dell, HP and even some of the smaller players have done a lot of work around recycling, thanks to some heavy persuasion from the EU in the shape of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive (WEEE), but there is still an awful lot to do.
Two surveys released over the last six months have pulled back the plush carpet of vendor environmental responsibility to reveal the dry rot of the black market in discarded IT waste of rich Western countries. The latest of the studies, "The Digital Dump: Exporting High-Tech Re-use and Abuse to Africa", by watchdog Basel Action Network shows the nature of the problem.. The report claims that US and European manufacturers are dumping computers and other electrical goods in Africa under the guise of recycling or charity donations. The Nigerian Computer Dealers Business Association said as much as 75 percent of the imported used computer equipment is junk.
Using developing nations as a conveniently distant, profitably under-regulated landfill is deplorable, especially under the cover of charity. Yet stopping it, even if possible, would create as many problems as it would solve.
The IT vendors should invest and support what remains their responsibility. The problem does not lie with recycling itself but rather the conditions in which it is being done which leads to toxic heavy metals being released into the workplace and the surrounding environment. The right infrastructure, facilities and training will prevent this from happening and give a much-needed boost to local economies. IT companies should treat the workers and environment at the far end of their supply chain with as much respect as they do those closer to home
Talkback
Your article is very interesting but perhaps you should consider some other angles to these challenges.
Firstly, only about 35% of computer waste is recycled ethically and professionally in so called developed countries such as the UK. The rest disappears and will very often find its way in to municipal waste streams and therefore into the ground.
Re-use of good working equipment is of course preferable. There is HUGE demand in Africa. In Nigeria there are 20,000 schools which have no computers at all. With an average computer lab of 20 systems that’s a demand for 1miillion computers in one country alone.
Of course delivering a refurbished, tested and safe working computer to an African school is not the answer. The answer involves secure facilities which include power and communications, installation, support, maintenance and training…. the same issues we face in the UK.
The good news is that a trained and qualified IT technician only costs $2,000 per annum. The other fact is that in Africa almost everything is repaired and the life cycle is far longer then in our throw away economy. For example; I have heard of people re-pairing and rewinding the coils on power supplies when they fail.
Now coming back to the Africa “end of life” issue; it is true that nobody wants Africa to end up as a dumping ground for our toxic and hazardous waste. I don’t condone sending waste to Africa of course. We must all learn to pay for the waste we create through consumption.
The problem is; whilst we in the west were going through our industrial revolution and growing and building our economies we did NOT have the economic burden “doing the right thing”. We polluted our rivers, the ground and the sky and we did it with raw materials very often brought (or exchanged for weapons to be cynical) from Africa.
With this in mind; who are we to impose values which even now we fail to observe on developing economies? We have no right to hold back there education and economic development through misguided rules which we fail to adhere to ourselves.
The answer is for the so called developed west to help Africa develop their recycling and material recover facilities. We must pay for these facilities and put our own house in order at the same time. In the mean time it is a huge mistake to categorise all equipment supply to developing economies as waste dumping.