E-waste: A nation sitting on a keg of gun powder

Nigerians are fast catching up with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) euphoria sweeping across the globe. As the craze for new technologies reaches astronomical heights, the issue of e-waste has become a subject of immense concern for governments worldwide. Sadly, the federal government has failed to prioritise the issue of its elimination as Nigeria becomes a thriving dump yard.

“We are sitting on a keg of gun powder that will one day explode. While developed countries have discovered ways of managing e-waste; Nigeria is still lagging behind….” This was the blunt reaction of a computer products dealer at Ikeja Computer Village who expressed dismay at federal government’s flippant attitude towards addressing the electronic waste menace. E-waste is now regarded as a ‘rapidly expanding’ issue considering the health and environmental implications posed by the indiscriminate dumping of electronic materials. So, what is e-waste? It may be defined as discarded computers, office electronic equipment, entertainment device electronics, mobile phones, television sets and refrigerators.

This definition includes used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal. Rapid changes in technology, changes in media, falling prices, and planned obsolescence have resulted in a fast-growing surplus of electronic waste around the globe. Let us look at what’s obtainable across the globe in terms of how other mature nations are coping with the challenge. Though, technical solutions are available, in most cases a legal framework, a collection system, logistics, and other services need to be implemented before a technical solution can be applied. An estimated 50 million tons of E-waste are produced each year. The United States America (USA) discards 30 million Personal Computers (PC) each year and 100 million phones are disposed of in Europe each year.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that only 15-20 percent of e-waste is recycled, the rest of these electronics go directly into landfills and incinerators. According to a report by UNEP titled, "Recycling - from E-Waste to Resources," the amount of e-waste being produced - including mobile phones and computers - could rise by as much as 500 percent over the next decade in some countries, such as India. The US is the world leader in producing electronic waste, tossing away about 3 million tons each year. On the other hand, China already produces about 2.3 million tons (2010 estimate) domestically, second only to the United States. And, despite having banned e-waste imports, China remains a major e-waste dumping ground for developed countries.

Electrical waste contains hazardous but also valuable and scarce materials. Up to 60 elements can be found in complex electronics. In the US, an estimated 70 percent of heavy metals in landfills come from discarded electronics. While there is agreement that the number of discarded electronic devices is increasing, there is considerable disagreement about the relative risk (compared to automobile scrap, for example), and strong disagreement whether curtailing trade in used electronics will improve conditions, or make them worse. According to an article in Motherboard, attempts to restrict the trade have driven reputable companies out of the supply chain, with unintended consequences.

African continent

Africa, typically a dumping ground for electronic waste from other mature nations, could produce more e-waste than the European Union by 2017, experts have said. Across Africa, a combination of population growth and increased access to mobile phones and other technologies will produce a surge in e-waste over the next five years, Miranda Amachree of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency told reporters at the Pan-African Forum on E-Waste. While Africa has long received tons of waste for disposal from developed nations, a recent report by the United Nation (UN) Basel Convention’s E-waste Africa Program found that as much as 85 percent of Africa’s e-waste is now local.

In five West African nations, a UNEP report showed that ten times more people have PC compared with a decade ago, and 100 times as many people have cellphones. In those countries alone, between 650,000 and 1 million tons of domestic e-waste are now generated per year. By comparison, the U.S produces the most e-waste annually, with about 3 million tons, followed by China (2.3 million). “There is population growth … and there is the penetration rate — there are increasing numbers of people with access to these devices. “You have to bear in mind that there are efforts undertaken at all levels to increase access — it’s part of development,” she said. Kummer described the growth of both the population and the penetration rate as ‘exponential’, adding that Africa must “move towards more formal recycling in order to ensure precious metals are properly extracted from, say, mobile phones.”

Nigerian situation

The study conducted by the UNEP showed that Nigeria was one of the major sources of electronic waste in Africa without the needed protection against its impact on human health and the environment in the country and the West African sub-region. Detailing the Nigerian situation, the report also disclosed that “an analysis of 176 containers of two categories of used electrical and electronic equipment imported into Nigeria, conducted from March to July 2010, revealed that more than 75 per cent of all containers came from Europe, approximately 15 per cent from Asia, five per cent from African ports (mainly Morocco) and five per cent from North America.”

Earlier, the Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based environmental group, disclosed that an estimated 500 shipping containers with a load equal in volume to 400,000 computer monitors or 175,000 large TV sets enter Lagos each month. About 75 percent of some shipments are classified as e-waste. “The reasons for this huge influx of e-waste into Lagos are not far fetched. “Lagos has a large sea port where the items easily slip through. “Also there is a huge appetite for cheap second hand imported electronics items in the city,” Peter Ejiofor, a Lagos dealer in second hand PCs, said. But Lagos is indeed paying a huge environmental cost for these cheap items.

Most of the imported items get discarded almost as soon as they are shipped into Lagos. "E-waste is a major problem, it's a major challenge, we have a pile up of them," Ola Oresanya, managing director of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), said. With no facilities to recycle e-wastes, they are indiscriminately discarded around the city. Some of them end up in dumpsites where they are burnt. Environmentalists have expressed apprehension over the health implications of this as toxic gas are pushed into the atmosphere during burning.

“It is a very worrisome situation because components from these electronic items are very hazardous," Leslie Adogame of the Nigerian Environmental Society stated. He is particularly concerned about the health implication. "There is open burning. Some components produce a lot of particulate matters,” he says. "People around the areas where the wastes are being burnt have to be suffering from chest-related diseases because they inhale a lot of noxious substances,” he added.

Health implications

Certain components of some electronic products contain materials that render them hazardous, depending on their condition and density. Thousands of old electronic goods and components leave the EU for Africa every day, despite regulations prohibiting the trade in e-waste. Some are repaired and reused, but many are beyond repair, meaning that they will eventually be dumped in places where no facilities exist for safe recycling. The poor in Nigeria regularly sort through piles of e-waste, burn plastics, break open lead-laden with Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) from computer monitors while picking apart electronic waste to scavenge for the precious metals inside.

These unsuspecting poor scavengers expose themselves and their environment to abysmal amounts of toxic hazards thereby becoming vulnerable to health risks. The poorest people, in many cases children are put to work breaking apart TVs, mobile phones, game consoles, etc, that arrive in their tons with no safety measures; they are exposed to highly toxic chemicals, including mercury, which damages the brain; lead, which can damage reproductive systems; and cadmium, which causes kidney damage. “Large parts of groundwater in Nigeria have also become polluted and un-safe for human consumption due to indiscriminate disposal of e-waste. “They have contaminated the soil, air, and food also.

“Chemicals and toxins from e-waste are known to lead to serious health problems like reproductive failures, genital deformities, thyroid malfunctions, behavioral abnormalities and immune suppression, miscarriages in women, foetal deformation bronchitis, and evidences of polychlorinated biphenyl’s (PCB) to cancer in animal, reproductive system, nervous system, endocrine, stunted growth and other serious health crisis”, James Okafor, a medical practitioner told Business Day. In terms of air pollution, particulate materials such as dust, ash, soot, smoke, toxic metals released into the air in the form of metal fumes by waste incinerators e.g. nickel, beryllium, cadmium, fumes: chlorinated dioxins & furans affects humans, animals, plants, building materials and pollutes the soil.

Government’s failure

Despite increasing evidence of the harm caused by electronic waste, the federal government has failed to prioritise the issue of its elimination as over five million second-hand computers are unloaded every year in Lagos. To this end, Nigeria is emerging as the top dumping ground for e-waste from developed and mature markets. These "junks" have a unique pattern of flooding the market as they are shipped and air-freighted into the country. But more importantly, they pass through what is perceived to be a litany of security agencies struggling for recognition at the nation's sea and air ports as well as approved and unapproved but known border routes. According to reliable information from the UNEP, globally 20 - 50 million tons of electronics are discarded each year. However, less than 10 percent gets recycled and half or more end up mostly in developing countries like Nigeria.

Industry watchers say that as western technology becomes cheaper and the latest machine comes to be regarded as a disposable fashion statement, dumping would only intensify. The chaotic management of e-waste arising from the uncontrolled importation of disused computers, mobile phones, and television sets into the country has drawn the resentment of various Information Technology (IT) associations in Nigeria. Commenting on the issue, Jimson Olufuye, vice chairman of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), said, “As far as I am concerned, though we have a full fledged ministry charged with the responsibility of enforcing all environmental laws, guidelines, policies, standards and regulations in Nigeria, nothing proactive has been done towards tackling the issue of e-waste.

“Industry has made recommendations on several occasions to the ministry as regards collaboration to arrest the situation, but all have proved futile. In this regard, we cannot stop the importation of PCs into the country because penetration is still low. I must admit, this is a very serious issue that demands all stakeholders to come together to find ways to curb this menace”, he added. Still assessing the magnitude of e-waste importation into the country, John Oboro, Secretary-General, Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), noted that the failure of the Federal Government to take a significant step to manage the waste arising from the importation of disused electronics is unsafe as the nation may have to pay for it in a disgusting way in the near future.

Oboro cried out: “We are sitting on a keg of gun powder that will one day explode. Developed countries have discovered ways of managing e-waste. It is quite unfortunate that the manufacturers of even the new ones do not have plans of how to take back these things when they become obsolete. “We need the foreign information technology (IT) firms to take full responsibility for the safe recycling of their products and put an end to the growing e-waste dumps that poison people and the environment across the developing world, Nigeria inclusive. We need companies to introduce voluntary take-back schemes and remove hazardous substances from their products so they can be recycled safely and easily”, he said. Oboro challenged the relevant government agencies in Nigeria to ensure that only electronic products tested and certified fit for use are allowed into the country.

In the same vein, Charles Uwadia, past president, Nigerian Computer Society, added: “Well, I would not say that the Federal Government is not doing anything to tackle e-waste. I am aware that the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is trying to stop the importation of fairly used electronic goods into the country so as to prevent Nigeria from becoming a dumping ground. One would expect our government to be much more upbeat as regard ridding this country of e-waste.” Continuing, he said, “For those used electronics that have already found their way into the country, government must find a way to take back these goods for recycling and use materials derived for other useful purposes.

Also, for those electronic goods containing harmful chemicals, there should be a methodological system of getting rid of them. However, I am not aware of any regulatory policy on e-waste. Experts, however, say that Nigeria is lagging behind as regards implementing international environmental treaties as it lacks the needed national regulatory framework to implement them. Regardless of the international regulations prohibiting trade in e-waste, thousands of old electronic goods and components leave the European Union and America for Nigeria every day. Under the EU legislation, it is illegal to export used electronic products indiscriminately as the Basel Convention on hazardous and other wastes adopted in 1989 and entered into force in 1992, obliges member countries to ensure that hazardous wastes are managed and disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.

Global strategic alliances

International collaboration to promote environmentally sound management of e-waste was strengthened with the signing of an agreement between the Secretariat of the Basel Convention (SBC), a United Nation Organisation’s (U.N.O) system and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) specifically aimed at protecting the environment from the adverse effects of e-waste. According to the U.N last week, the rapid spread of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has raised public attention on the negative effects arising from inadequate disposal and waste management. Besides, the body warned developing countries, including Nigeria, with huge market potential to be wary of mobile phone waste, which according to it are extremely dangerous to the living.

The global body stressed that electronic waste, which contains toxic materials used in the manufacturing process, can cause widespread damage to the environment and human health. According to UN, developing countries are expecting a surge in e-waste, with mobile phone waste expected to grow exponentially, adding that sharp increases of e-waste have until now not been matched with policy and regulatory mechanisms nor with infrastructure to cope with the influx in developing countries. The global body noted that, currently, only 13 per cent of e-waste is reported to be recycled with or without safety procedures. It noted that, the issue of e-waste as an emerging telecommunications policy and regulatory issue have received recognition at the highest level in ITU.

Already, part of measures adopted by ITU in this area include; the adoption of Recommendation ITU-T L.1000, “Universal power adapter and charger solution for mobile terminals and other Information Communication Technology (ICT) devices”, which dramatically reduces production and cuts the waste produced by mobile chargers; the adoption of Recommendation ITU-T L.1100, which details the procedures to be employed when recycling rare metal components included in ICT equipment and the designing e-Waste management strategies for environmental protection; publishing and disseminating best practices; and assisting countries in the drafting, adoption and implementation of policies, laws, and regulations related to e-waste management.

Meanwhile, the UN noted that the level of global environmental policy, the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, which came into force in 1992, is the most comprehensive environmental agreement on the management of hazardous and other waste, “but many countries have not yet successfully translated its provisions into their national legislation. Now, with the signing of the ITU-SBC Administrative Agreement, efforts between both UN mechanisms will be leveraged, maximising value at the global level and strengthening collaboration between telecommunication/ICT and environmental policy makers for the global good.”According to ITU Secretary-General, Hamadoun Touré, the ICT sector is already making significant progress in improving its environmental performance and reducing e-waste through improved best practices and standards.

“The collaboration with the Secretariat of the Basel Convention will allow the global community to address this ever-increasing problem through a holistic approach, involving the recycling industry as well as environmental policy makers”, stressed Toure. To the Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, Jim Willis: “The positive impact of ICT on development, particularly in developing countries and countries with economies in transition is well recognised and acknowledged. “However, ICT equipment has to be dealt with in view of its entire life-cycle, and this includes the time when the equipment comes to its end-of-life and becomes e-waste. Collaboration between ITU and SBC will further our shared objectives in support of sustainable development that essentially includes environmentally sound management of waste.”

Solution

An Information Technology expert, Kunle Ogunfowokan said there was need for foreign information technology (IT) firms to take full responsibility for the safe recycling of their products and put an end to the growing e-waste dumps that poison people and the environment across the developing world, Nigeria inclusive. “We need companies to introduce voluntary take-back schemes and remove hazardous substances from their products so they can be recycled safely and easily”, he said.

Ogunfowokan challenged the relevant government agencies in Nigeria to ensure that only electronic products tested and certified fit for uses are allowed into the country. Indeed, the ITU-SBC collaboration seeks to collect and recycle the hazardous materials by introducing safeguards in the management of the waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), or e-waste.

According to Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of UNEP, “effective management of the growing amount of e-waste generated in Africa and other parts of the world is an important part of the transition towards a low-carbon, resource-efficient Green Economy. “We can grow Africa’s economies, generate decent employment and safeguard the environment by supporting sustainable e-waste management and recovering the valuable metals and other resources locked inside products that end up as e-waste.” There is an urgent need for improved collection strategies and the establishment of more formal recycling structures, which can limit environmental damage and provide economic opportunities.