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Channelling all ewaste to one plant the best way to ensure viability of recycling in Southern Africa

WALE AREWA
Consolidation in the local industry will help to attract investment that will then enable larger scale recycling

WALE AREWA Consolidation in the local industry will help to attract investment that will then enable larger scale recycling

19th January 2018

By: Schalk Burger

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

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The establishment of an electronic waste (ewaste) recycling plant, which can cost R1.5-billion to build, will work best if the ewaste streams from across Southern Africa can be channelled to such a megaplant, says information technology asset and ewaste recycling company Xperien CEO Wale Arewa.

eWaste in South Africa is generally shipped to Germany, China, Singapore or Japan for processing, as these countries have the recycling facilities to do it at scale and profitably. Most of the ewaste streams in South Africa are nonprofitable, with a need for producer responsibility schemes to support recycling or sufficient economies of scale to make recycling economically viable, he explains.

“Over the next two to three years, we do not expect to see much change, especially in South Africa. However, over the five-year horizon, we have identified the potential for the recycling industry to consolidate and, potentially with direct foreign investment, build a large-scale ewaste recycling plant in South Africa.”

The facility will then, by necessity, need to source ewaste streams from across the Southern Africa region to feed its recycling lines. Consolidation in the local recycling industry can lead to better regional ewaste recycling capacity.

However, some ewaste streams will never be profitable. Legislation in South Africa, including data protection regulation, is driving the creation of more sustainable recycling revenue, as proper disposal of information technology assets will be necessary to prevent data leaks from older machines.

“While there are several private-sector initiatives in the recycling industry, including the Waste Alliance and the ewaste Association of South Africa (eWasa), there is no follow-through by government departments and organisations to progress with initiatives to improve recycling, [including] ewaste recycling, in South Africa,” avers Arewa.

For example, cathode-ray tube screens and some lithium-ion battery waste are difficult and unprofitable to recycle. Lithium-ion battery ewaste is currently sent to Japan or Germany for reprocessing. Similarly, the value of the components and metals in cathode-ray tube screens is too low to meet the cost of logistics, recycling and reprocessing them, he explains.

“Only by having more-stringent regulations and cost structures to transfer funds to recyclers to process unprofitable ewaste streams, such as a recycling levy or producer responsibility levy, will we be able to recycle these streams. However, South Africa has a poor record of managing such levy schemes to fund improved recycling.”

Arewa notes that some of the larger local recyclers are planning to establish their own smelters, but that the scale of the sector and regional volumes are not yet attractive enough to encourage investment and, hence, investment is deferred.

“However, once we see consolidation in the local industry, we will be able to attract investment that will then enable larger-scale recycling, irrespective of enabling government policies, though supportive policies would help to improve the investment climate.”

The final reprocessor in the recycling value chain typically derives the most value from the waste, he adds.

“We have players ready to go into Africa. The presence of international firms across the continent will help to provide a steady supply for ewaste recycling, but local collection must be done to capture ewaste from smaller enterprises.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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