HP and the African e-waste problem: Round 2
I have been tracking the issue of illegal dumping of old tech in Africa for a while now and reported HP's first efforts to investigate this issue last year:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39289404,00.htm
The PC maker has just released the first findings from this study - conducted on the ground in Kenya and Morocco so far - which you can find below.
It is a complex issue and HP deserves credit for highlighting the problem. However when I told a contact of mine about the HP programme he was less than impressed.
Having worked on the ground in Africa for years, my contact is well aware of the problems of what happens to IT kit - sold new into the country by vendors like HP or refurbished machines donated by charities - at the end of its useful life.
Here are the points he raised when I told him about the HP programme - with the original language toned down a bit:
1. HP already knows exactly what needs to be done with eWaste. There is no mystery. HP already does it in many other countries that have Green lobbies and governments ready to enforce environmental protection.
2. In Europe HP builds multi-million dollar eWaste facilities and (more recently) pays for end-of-life disposal of PCs spending an amount calculated to be in direct proportion to the number of HP units sold into the European market (as it is required to do under the WEEE Directive). The question is then why, when HP is environmentally compliant within the European Community, does it pay for zero end-of-life disposal in Africa?
3. HP equipment is sold in virtually all of Africa's 53 countries - where it is market leader in printers and competes in the desktop and laptop segments - but it seems that whilst they are prepared to invest in Africa in pursuit of sales and profit - their concern for the environment ends at the Mediteranean Sea.
5. Will Africa have to force HP to take responsibility for end-of-life disposal by passing legislation or will HP volunteer funding of environmental recycling in Africa that is directly proportional to its market share in Africa - as it already does in Europe?
6. Computers for Schools Kenya have set up a pilot recycling facility in Nairobi, Kenya.
http://www.cfsk.org/ewaste.html
Instead of bloating the research budgets of European 'think tanks' they [HP and its researchers] could just give CFSK the funding that
they need to recycle the tens of thousands of pieces of HP kit sold into Africa every year. That won't happen.
Instead they will now vote themselves a second round of research funding based on their primary finding that 'more research needs to be done'!!
Here's an excerpt from the HP release :
HP unveils conclusions and next steps of project to tackle electronic waste in Africa
BRUSSELS, February 17, 2009 – HP together with the Global Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa) today unveiled the first results of a pilot project to tackle the problem of electronic waste (e-waste) in Africa. This initiative was carried out in South Africa, Morocco and Kenya and has allowed HP to gather vital information on how African governments, organisations and society are dealing with the rising problem of e-waste management, as well as test solutions on the way forward.
The information and experience gathered in this project, which also included contributions from local organisations and NGOs, will support the launch of the second phase of the project, which aims at engaging corporate and government partners to further extend e-waste management programmes to other countries and tackle the problem of e-waste in the entire continent.
“HP has a responsibility that starts with the design of a product and goes right through to its disposal and we take that responsibility very seriously,” commented Klaus Hieronymi, Director, Environmental Business Management, HP EMEA. “We see these projects in Africa as both providing employment opportunities for local communities and as a step towards a sustainable solution for tackling electronic waste in Africa.”
For more on this issue check out: http://ewasteguide.info/
And
www.dsf-fsn.org/