Jeff Cooper, president of the International Solid Waste Association, attended the Pan-African Forum on E-waste and reports that the normal WEEE collection method in West Africa was described as being house-to-house and carried out by the informal sector, which normally entails a financial transaction.
Writing about the conference, Mr Cooper said: “Typically in Nigeria, for example, collectors will pay Naira 50 for a CRT (Ј0.20) and Naira 100 (Ј0.40) for both fridges and PCs. The great advantage of this system is that it provides a 95% collection rate for household WEEE.
However, the processing that then takes place is very crude and anything that demands further treatment is not undertaken but dumped. Therefore there is not a level playing field, because were full treatment to be undertaken through an environmentally sound treatment plant it could not make sufficient return to justify the proper treatment of the hazardous components.
Source: Let’s Recycle