Recycling while bridging the global digital divide

In my previous post, I talked about electronic waste (e-waste) and how many developed countries are creating a new type of pollution in developing countries. This happens when old computers and other electronics are discarded or recycled but end up being shipped to landfills in developing countries instead of being handled in the regulated manner because it costs less to do so. Well, in this next story, we see how a company is making a difference in this trend.
Collecting and Recycling Ecologically (CARE): Computers for Developing Countries is a company based in the United Kingdom and operating in Ghana that takes redundant computers that British companies wish to discard and recycles them by donating them to schools and colleges in Ghana. This might sound like not such a big deal but here is where it makes a real difference. In the previous posting, the video showed how many of these discarded computers come as ‘donations’ and 50% of them don’t even work. This is what creates the waste because no one is going to repair these outdated computers so they get thrown away. And then the pollution gets out of hand when there is such an abundance of these that they are burned for their copper wire by scavengers and children releasing toxic fumes.
CARE removes this danger by assessing every computer that goes through their system. Computers and computer equipment is collected from businesses, schools and individuals for a small fee. All data on the equipment is then wiped clean to Ministry of Defense standards. It is after this that the computers are shipped to Ghana for distribution. They are taken to service centers that are responsible to installing new programs as well as training IT specialists to maintain the PC systems once installation is complete at the schools. After the donations, the students and teachers are also trained to use and maintain computers. Their program enables schools in Ghana and the UK learn from each other as they collaborate through the internet. They are working towards projects that will forge international projects and relationships.

But there is yet another component of this company that does even more to combat pollution in Ghana. There is an increasing plastic waste problem that exists in the country. Almost everything that is sold in Ghana is vended in plastic bags, including water. Water is sold on city streets in plastic packets instead of bottles. These plastic packets and black plastic bags used to hold everything have been accumulating on trash dumps and on the streets since they aren’t biodegradable. Currently, there is no national waste management system in the country. The bags also clog the drainage systems causing floods during the heavy rain season. For this reason, an ‘Eco-Code’ has been drafted by CARE to be signed by all students of schools that receive computers donations. This code requires them to put measures in place to curb this pollution.
I look forward to seeing how CARE will change the face of pollution and recycling in Africa and the e-waste menace.