Homegrown firm facilitates safe disposal of e-waste

For over a decade, ICT has been the engine behind the rapid growth of economies across the world, with Kenya being among the leaders in Africa.

While there is no debate about the positive impact ICT has had on development across nations, there is also the fact that it has had a negative impact on the environment due to the immense volumes of e-waste being generated.

In Kenya, most electronic gadgets in use are second hand imports, therefore, they either have a short lifespan or are obsolete, a factor that sees them end up in a pile of other dead electronic items as e-waste.

Another factor that contributes to the rising e-waste problem is rapid technological advancement, which sees regular updates of gadgets such as phones, prompting users to do away with their old, but still functioning gadgets in favour of more up-to-date ones, a factor that aggravates an already critical state.

For Boniface Mbithi, a lawyer by profession, the e-waste challenge was an opportunity to seize. In 2012, he established a firm, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Centre (WEEE Centre), a firm that seeks to ensure safe disposal of electrical and electronic waste.

“We found a niche in ensuring proper disposal of electronic waste in Kenya at a time when everyone was looking at ICT with no company in Africa doing e-waste management,” Mbithi explains.

“Looking at Africa then, we didn’t have a company that was addressing the e-waste problem, in fact, we did not even know that we were supposed to take care of our electronic waste. People had different ways of disposing waste that weren’t right,” Mbithi says.

“WEEE Centre started as a result of a take back program through its affiliate, Computers for Schools Kenya (CFSK), an NGO that distributes computers to schools in Kenya,” he adds.

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Initially, CFSK would collect the obsolete computers from the schools and store them. This led to the need for solutions to be found for the stored computers, and that is when the idea to scale up came about.

Computers for Schools Kenya, through its partners, facilitated the donations of computers, and agreed to first train the team on electronic waste management as a whole, before setting up. The company formally kicked off in 2012

To operate efficiently and effectively, the firm had to benchmark and find out how other continents were handling e-waste. Europe became the key point of reference.

Being a capital intensive business, the firm relied on grants for the seed capital. They also approached partners such as Safaricom and Kenya Airways and pitched the need to have a solution for e-waste recycling and management.

In its operations, the enterprise collects outdated equipment, equipment that has either been overtaken by technology or has become obsolete.

The metals used to make these gadgets are smelted to make new metals, while plastics are shredded, and pellets sold to industries that require them.

Whatever that the firm cannot manage is shipped overseas to either Germany, Belgium or Finland or other countries that have capacity to recycle the components. As such, the firm ensures that nothing ends up dumped in the environment.

One-off collections

To enhance its operations, the business signs service level agreements with corporates on a long term basis, though there are some that prefer one-off collections.

They have, so far, trained over 1,000 youths and SMEs who they engage in collecting and segregation of e-waste across the country. They also have drop off points in Kisumu, Nakuru and Mombasa.

Today, the firm has eight regional offices, three collection centers and over 100 drop off points countrywide with presence in over 18 African countries, recently been registered in Uganda and Tanzania.

The business employs 60 people directly and over 1,000 indirectly. So far, more than 10,000 tons of e-waste have so far been processed.

“We have collected and de-polluted over 800,000 electrical and electronic equipment. These could have ended up in dumping sites or illegally traded. For every ton of e-waste safely handled, there are 1.44tons of CO2 emissions avoided, meaning we have made over 14,400tons in reduction of CO2 emissions,” Mbithi explains.

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For one to establish such a venture, Mbithi says that one requires an operating license -an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) licenses license.

Though a success today, the businessman points out that they have experienced a number of challenges. These include lack of solutions for problematic fractions, need for incentives in exchange for e-waste, lack of awareness and sensitisation programs as well as ineffective legislation.

To advertise its work, the firm creates awareness through the use of social media, while also conducting trainings and sensitisations.

The firm also works with ambassadors who dispose of their electronic wastes while also setting up drop off points in strategic places, such as Safaricom outlets, Carrefour supermarkets and Total Energies. The firm also conducts estate drives while also collecting from homes.

To individuals and the governments, Mbithi cites the need to be cautious as e-waste contains chemicals that are harmful to human beings and the environment when inappropriately disposed of.

Benefit environment

“We all need to play our role in ensuring we conserve not only our environment, but also our health,” he says.

“We are committed to circularity and sustainably benefit the environment (through reduction of dumping, combustion of e-waste, pollution), reduce overexploitation of natural resources, achieve maximum component recovery, and promote the UNs Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Our circularity begins at collection of e-waste transportation, refurbishment, reuse, recycling and material recovery,” Mbithi explains.

In future, the firm plans to be fully operational and have pre-processing centers in the eight regional offices that serve as collection centers across the country.

They also plan to train over 1,000 youths all over the country in electronic waste management and ICT literacy.

They also plan to engage over 600 youths in the collection of e-waste across the country through an incentives program. In the long run, the firm plans to set up a full line refinery for all fractions of electronic waste disposed of instead of exporting.

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