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New Life for Old Computers

Photos courtesy of Reciclemos

2008-06

An IDRC-supported initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean is tackling the environmental problem of e-waste disposal, providing computers for schools, and creating jobs at the same time.

The rapid pace of technology in this electronic age has created a global problem. Computers and their many accessories, television sets, and cellphones — old, obsolete, or just unwanted — are creating a new kind of hazardous waste. It’s called e-waste, and disposing of it has become a global issue.

Despite international agreements to the contrary, a lot of e-waste finds its way to dump sites in Latin America, Asia, and Africa where people, often children, scavenge for marketable scrap such as copper wire and even minute amounts of gold used in circuit boards. In the process, they expose themselves to toxic elements such as mercury and lead, and they leave a wasteland of crushed glass, metal, and plastic.

But there are ways to divert the tons of e-scrap destined for such sites.  Reciclemos (or WeRecycle), a “hemispheric initiative” underway in Latin America and the Caribbean, is demonstrating that even old technology can still have many years of useful life. With the support of a one-year grant from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA), Reciclemos has created a multimedia tool kit to raise awareness of the dangers of improper disposal of e-waste and to show the opportunities that exist for reuse and recycling.

Lack of policies

Peter McFarren is President of Bolivia’s Quipus Cultural Foundation, which leads the Reciclemos initiative. He says that a lack of information and environmental policies in the region have allowed e-waste to become a rapidly growing problem.

“While some countries have developed advances in important technological issues, in legislation, and in creating new regulations to comply with international agreements, others are just beginning,” he says.

But McFarren believes that “reconditioning and re-managing” used computers, cellphones, and other equipment can be part of the solution. As an example, he cites Canada’s Computers for Schools (CFS) program, which provides refurbished older computers for use in schools, and which is now active in schools in Latin America and Africa. It was this program that inspired the Reciclemos tool kit.

The kit contains a brochure and a pamphlet that describe both the problems with e-waste and the potential it offers. But that is only the beginning — there is also a DVD that provides a video presentation, educational odules, and technical manuals covering topics such as networking and robotics. There is even a manual for entrepreneurs wanting to enter the recycling business.  All this information is also available on the website www.reciclemos.net

11 million computers

The non-profit Committee for Democratization in Information Technology (CDI) in Rio de Janeiro supports the Reciclemos initiative. Coordinator Carlos Fernandez says that 11 million computers are sold in Brazil each year. The old CRT monitors they replace have the potential to put 11 000 tonnes of oxidized lead into the environment annually. “There is no public policy and no awareness from the technological companies in Brazil with respect to the size of this problem,” Fernandez says.

“We collect equipment that is no longer useful. We build a reconditioned computer from those parts that are reusable, we do the repairs, the software installation, the network installation, and afterwards, we take them to be used in our schools.”

In its 10 years of operation, CDI has compiled a large inventory of non-functioning parts, and with the lack of viable recycling programs, these parts remain, disassembled and separated, yet not fully recycled. This is a growing problem for refurbishing facilities throughout the region.

Rodrigo Baggio, CDI’s executive director, believes that the e-waste situation in Brazil lacks one essential piece — strong government legislation. A long-term, sustainable plan for strong e-waste management is needed to supplement private initiatives like CDI, which works in 19 Brazilian states and nine other countries in the region.

Schools compete

Another Reciclemos partner is the Equidad Foundation in Argentina. Carolina Anino, projects director, explains that computers donated by local businesses are recycled and used in school workshops where students learn how to repair them and are trained to be computer technicians.

“Later we donate the computers in a competition in which the schools and ngos need to present their educational and social prospects in order to get those computers. We continue to support the recipients with technical service provided by our students.”

Leila Devia is director of the Basel Convention’s regional centre for South America in Buenos Aires (see sidebar). As a specialist in natural resources and environmental law, Devia believes that e-waste recycling programs have the potential to provide work for a lot of unemployed people.

“If the logistics are well executed it could turn out very well,” she says. “It is important to ensure that there is a market for each recycled product, because if a recycled product does not have a market then it cannot be sold and nobody will want to set up recycling plants.” And she adds a warning that the real challenge remains: to work out what will be the final disposal place of the waste that can’t be reused or recycled.

For his part, Peter McFarren says Reciclemos will now focus its efforts on raising consciousness about recycling in the region. “There is very little public information available on the subject,” he says. “We are also looking at policy issues, such as persuading government and large corporations to add a green component to their plans for purchasing computers.”

Bob Stanley is an Ottawa-based writer.

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