Africa Innovates Magazine - Flipbook - Page 57
MANAGING
EWASTE
IN KENYA
WHAT IS WEEE
CENTRE’S
OBJECTIVE?
We ensure that eWaste is properly managed.
Without us, it would simply be dumped and
end up in landfills, rivers or in soils. It would
damage the environment. Electronics are
made of heavy metals like mercury, which
need to be properly managed. It is not only an
environmental issue, but also a climate change
issue: the ecosystem is exposed to these heavy
metals, and they will end up in plants, drinking
water or vegetables.
We propose our services to corporations,
governments, or schools, and to the general
public. We have set up collection centers and
drop-off points throughout the country.
We have also established a circular innovation
hub to innovate solutions about climate
change and the circular economy. The hub will
accelerate startups and mentor entrepreneurs
who work on circular, green economy issues,
and clean tech.
HOW DID YOU
GET STARTED ON
THIS PATH?
Before WEEE Centre, I used to work for
Computers for Schools Kenya, an NGO, for
which I am also the director. It aims to bridge
the digital divide in ICT. We refurbished
computers and gave them to certain schools
– we could see that they did not know what
to do when they were at the end of their
lifecycle. That is how we moved to green
research to understand how to safely handle
the management of electronic waste for Kenya
and the continent. Currently we are managing
eWaste for 15 countries.
Photo credit: WEEE centre
“I am really looking
forward to a time when
e-waste will be seen
as a resource, not a
problem.”
WASTE & RECYCLING
Bonnie Mbithi is the General Manager of WEEE Centre, a startup
managing ewaste in Kenya.
Bonnie Mbithi,
WEEE Centre General Manager
Photo credit: WEEE Centre
HOW DO YOU
HANDLE
eWASTE?
We constantly try to improve our process of
disposing waste and are now ISO-certified. In
our facility, we collect all the data to calculate
the CO2 emissions the client is saving – we
send a report gathering all information. Then,
we ensure that eWaste is properly destroyed.
After everything is dismantled, all materials
are separated and handled according to their
types and their chemical families. The recycling
is processed within our facilities or managed by
partners.
WHAT IS YOUR
AMBITION?
We just want to ensure that the continent is
clean. We want to have a full circular process
from refurbishment, to using, to recycling. We
even want manufacturers to build equipment
that lasts longer, and that can be easily
repaired. When you look at the manufacturing
process for a new phone, there is a lot of CO2
that is emitted, and energy that is consumed.
We are able to extract the materials: we
realize that all these rare metals are already
in circulation, so we do not have to go on
continuously mining.
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