Reuse, repair, refurbish – UN

Africa has a thriving informal sector and governments need to do more to promote the reusing, repairing, redistributing and refurbishing of e-waste to recycle materials such as gold, silver, copper, platinum and iron, says a 2017 report by the United Nations University and the International Communication Union.

Not surprisingly, cellphones

would reuse materials extracted from old electronic products in their new products.

It would also create “green jobs” at waste disposal plants.

Desco recycles wire and PC boards, and also works with downstream vendors who strip the cables and copper to ensure reuse. contribute the most to e-waste. In 2016 alone, about 432 kilotonnes of mobile phone waste was generated across the globe.

Consumers change their devices often to keep up with technological trends or for social recognition, but perhaps it is cheaper to upgrade than repair, the United Nations University report notes.

Fridges have compressors and motors that contain materials such as copper, steel and aluminium. Desco can process these and push them back into the market.

Desco collects e-waste from bins outside Hi-Fi Corporation, Makro and Incredible Connection. People can also dispose of their redundant electronics in the recycling bins in the company’s yard.

The sorting plant separates the waste and weighs it. This data is sent to Desco’s head office.

Van Coller said Desco destroys all hard drives, a Protection of Personal Information Act requirement.

“We deal with highly sensitive information and companies such as banks and government entities,” said Van Coller. “Devices such as printers have hard drives and a lot of the stuff that you have scanned and signed is still on there. Imagine if a bank dumped these devices and all that information gets leaked.”

Fridges and TVs are dumped but people tend to hoard their old cellphones because they fear someone will get hold of their personal information.