Africa to trump Europe in electronic waste output
Monday, March 19, 2012 - 10:59:53
By the year 2017, there will be more e-waste generated in Africa than Europe, according to various experts speaking last week.
The rapid increase in the amount of electronic products which are being dumped on the African continent is being put down to a number of factors, including population growth and the increased availability of products such as mobile phones and computers.
Waste expert, Kummer Peiry, told the Associated Free Press that there is little that can be done about the increase in use of electronic devices as it is simply a part of the development and modernisation of this area of the world.
It is interesting that Africa has in the past been used as Europe's e-waste dumping ground, with large amounts of electronic detritus sent by ship from countries like the UK, in order to be disposed of overseas.
Now, however, it looks like Africa will outdo Europe within five years and pump out more than enough e-waste to exceed the amount generated in developed nations to the north.
Mobile phone usage in Africa has increased by a factor of 100 over the past decade, according to Peiry.
UN environment officer, Achim Steiner, spoke out about the benefits of recycling old mobile phones from both a financial and eco-friendly perspective.
A tonne of used mobiles contains 340 grams of gold, 3.5kg of silver and 130kg of copper, according to Mr Steiner. He pointed out that the amount of energy required to recycle these precious metals from mobile phones was several times lower than that required to smelt freshly mined ores.
Hopefully European countries like the UK will be better able to get a grip on their outgoing e-waste and reduce the amount which is sent to Africa, since it seems this continent is soon going to be facing its own recycling crisis.
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