These grants support environmental justice and sustainability activities aligned with APC’s Strategic Plan.
Projects implemented in 2022:
ALIN – Creating collective action and activism on the circular economy through mapping actors and laws relating to repair and recycling of digital devices in Kenya
The modernisation of both living and working spaces has seen an increase in the number of home appliances, entertainment devices and other information and communications technology (ICT) devices. Each year, families and offices discard most of this equipment in search of the “more fancy and fashionable” devices as marketed by the manufacturers. These technological advances that are coming at us at such a dizzying speed result in many electronic devices that still work fine being considered obsolete or e-waste.
Developing countries like Kenya have not been spared from the “e-waste pandemic” due to low appreciation on what constitutes e-waste and its effect on the environment. Many electronic devices are discarded in normal garbage bins and disposed of with other, biodegradable materials. These materials continue to harm people and the environment due to toxic chemicals that naturally leach from them when buried. In the recent past, there has been a drive towards recycling some of the devices and proper disposal of what is not usable. There are some entities that have established recycling plants, but this needs to be coordinated through sensitisation, engagement of sector players, and publicity.
As a way of helping to bridge the digital divide, ALIN established a social enterprise, Baobab Communications, to enhance access to ICT products and solutions for NGOs, community-based organisations and related entities with low purchasing power. Established in 2004, the company strived to reach remote areas with ICT solutions in order to open them to development opportunities in collaboration with the public and private sector. The products and services that were offered included computers, peripherals, and networking and connectivity solutions. The company established a computer recycling plant in Nairobi, Kenya, which supported circularity through maximising the lifetime of computers and peripherals phased out by companies and organisations during equipment upgrades. With its recycling and software donation programmes having come to an end, ALIN remains with a wealth of experience in maximising the lifetime of digital devices, which is part of the circular economy.
In the last few years, there is an increasing number of players entering the circular economy to attend to the many devices that have continued to impact on the environment. While this is happening, governments are developing legislation to guide this process, but not necessarily at the same pace as the manufacture of digital devices. As a way of mitigating the negative environmental impacts of digital technologies and the digital economy in Kenya, there is need to identify and map the sector actors and laws and publicise them in order to shape collective action by future sector players. This study will enable ALIN and its partners to identify gaps and future entry points and contribute to the circular economy in line with Outcome 6 of APC’s 2020-2023 Strategic Plan: “APC’s collective action and activism contribute to environmental justice and preservation of the earth, and mitigate the negative environmental impacts of the internet, digital technologies and the digital economy.” It will further identify gaps in current laws guiding e-waste management and the environmental impact of the manufacture of electronic gadgets.
DEF – Digital Green Prakriya (Processing): Fostering digital environmental justice through community repair and reuse network in India (a pilot)
The need to be met through this project is for a culture of repair, reuse and circularity in the electronics sector in the country, with more involvement of the local communities as part of digital environmental justice, alternative digital economy and responsible digital citizenship. This is also being carried out in the context of a very recent initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and IT to bring out a final draft on “Circular Economy in Electronics and Electrical Sector in India”, a much need policy drive, which also talks of the need to work with and engage communities in this entire process, including awareness raising and capacity building in the circular processes. Rooted in the philosophies of the circular model of the economy, the solution proposed to this problem is threefold: firstly, fostering appropriate digital behavioural culture and changes (from tech consumption to tech reuse) in the community, especially among youths, towards digital device circularity; secondly, a community-based digital device managing facility that supports better responsible management and participation in device usage, repair and reuse; and thirdly, promoting and strengthening local capacities in education, knowledge and skills to better manage devices, and advocacy on environmental-friendly features in devices, for digital environmental justice.
PROTEGE QV –Evaluating the ability of the legal and institutional framework in Cameroon to promote effective digital waste management
According to the Global Monitor E-waste Monitor 2020, Cameroon produced 24,600 tons of electrical and electronic waste in 2019. However, a single entity, Solidarité Technologique, holds the necessary authorisations for the collection, recycling and treatment of this waste, with a well-known capacity of less than 100 tons in 2017. That association signed an agreement in 2019 with the ministry in charge of environmental protection to industrialise the treatment and increase it to 5,000 tons per year
So how is the bulk of e-waste managed? In fact, through informal channels, that waste is manually dismantled and/or burned, often in unprotected spaces, to recover copper, aluminium, iron, etc., which can be easily resold. Waste that does not have an immediate lucrative interest is either abandoned on site or thrown carelessly into public landfills, polluting both the atmosphere and soil, and sometimes infiltrating groundwater. Several articles and reports have drawn attention to what has been called “the ticking time bomb of electrical and electronic waste in Cameroon”.
In view of the significant inherent risks of pollution, the management of digital waste in Cameroon raises two questions that will guide PROTEGE QV’s research:
- Despite the existing legal and institutional framework, what could be the reasons for the low level of compliance with the legal and regulatory framework governing the management of digital waste?
- Is the existing legal, regulatory and institutional framework strong and coherent enough to ensure the effective management of digital waste? If not, what improvements could be proposed?
This is why, in order to contribute to the promotion of effective management of digital waste in Cameroon, and using a literature review, structured interviews and possibly a survey, PROTEGE QV wishes:
- Firstly, to analyse this legal and institutional framework, and in parallel, to try to gain a better understanding of the users’ practices in waste management to be able to identify the shortcomings of the laws and institutions governing the management of digital waste.
- Secondly, to formulate recommendations for a more efficient legal and institutional framework after the review of laws and regulations and discussions with the different actors and users.
- Thirdly, to share the results during an online multistakeholder workshop with decision makers, parliamentarians, local elected representatives, institutions in charge of organising and monitoring digital waste management, some large companies, distributors of computer equipment, training institutions for computer equipment maintainance, civil society organisations and the media, in order to improve the situation.
Servelots – Ecosystems of waste management
What is waste is changing fast.
Villages did not have a word for garbage in their vernacular. All “waste” was organic material which found its compost pit at the house or in the neighbourhood. Compost was one of the main fertilisers for plants and farms. However, over the last few decades, there has been an inundation of chemical fertilisers. Most farmers now completely rely on these fertilisers and pesticides for plant care. The significance of this is twofold. First, while these products are an additional expense for the farmers, they also degrade the soil, causing a vicious cycle of dependency on these chemical products. Second, women bear the burden of farmer debt by either pawning their jewellery or getting micro loans from self-help groups.
However, there is a new product line called bio fertilisers and plant care products that has attracted some attention in rural areas. While these products are claimed to be effective products, the price tags on these are pretty high. One of Servelots permaculture residents has also been making comparable bio fertilisers and plant care products and exposing the farming community to these will lead to a more balanced turnaround of a) cost saving, b) soil nurturing and 3) women-led enterprises. Servelots has started experimenting with these products with some of the farming community with positive responses.
Its wish is to create awareness-raising material on the benefits of these organic Earth-friendly fertilisers and plant care products, to hold awareness workshops, and to lead the women into a collective of support services for community farm products and entrepreneurial self-help groups. The process documentation, product availability and resource map related to the makers, support groups, advisors, consumers and community feedback would be available on Servelots’ COWMesh captive portal, thus bringing stay-at-home women, maker women and marketing women to collectively engage and demonstrate the win-win aspects of these products. Since the raw material is all local and production costs for these products are less than 10% of their market value, this will hopefully lead to a virtuous cycle of rural production that directly contributes positively for climate change, especially given the scalability of these as products that are produced in rural regions and made available also to urban gardeners.
Servelots foresees that such engagements will help bring digital technologies to the community women while also seamlessly allowing entrepreneurial possibilities for those who are expected to be “home bound” by their patriarchal families. There are also plans to set up a soil fertility testing facility so women can engage in analytical dialogs and an online accounting facility so they can discuss the cost saving, effect on yield and entrepreneurial income potential.
VOICE – Research and advocacy on the implementation of the E-Waste Management Act for environmental sustainability in Bangladesh
The uses of digital technologies have touched on almost every aspect of modern life, reaching around half of the developing world’s population in only two decades. Though the digital technologies have created scope for an inclusive digital economy as well as achieving the flagship ambitions of the SDGs, there are still many challenges. Digital devices contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, copper, cadmium, beryllium, barium, etc., that cause severe risks related to health and damage to the environment. They also contribute to climate change through releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) during combustion and recycling of e-waste. This has become a particular problem in Bangladesh; the government literally opened up imports of cheap digital devices to complement its political vision of “Digital Bangladesh” to be achieved by 2021. Inspired by that Vision, private and public agencies have promoted mass utilisation of digital devices, which also has increased the volume of e-waste from roughly 2.81 million tons in 2009 to around 12 million tons in 2019. Most of the e-waste is collected informally from the source, some reusable metals are taken out, and the rest is dumped into open landfills, farming land and open bodies of water. Meanwhile, the unstructured, unskilled and informal practices of e-waste recycling leave more than 30 million children, women and other non-formal workers exposed to the hazardous substances these devices contain.
VOICE implemented a project with the support of APC on e-waste management for environmental sustainability that ended in June 2021. VOICE conducted two research studies and also awareness-raising and capacity-building programmes. However, these are not sufficient. There is an urgent need to generate knowledge and proper data on e-waste management, as well as public education campaigns to make people aware of the adverse environmental impacts of their multiple e-device buying behaviour. In addition, awareness raising among policy and law makers and local governments through policy advocacy is essential for the proper enactment and enforcement of e-waste management laws. And, last but not least, sensitising the media and journalists in order to influence the policy makers and raise awareness among the public on the issue is a must.
After continuous advocacy from environmental activists, lawyers, the media and CSOs including VOICE, a major development took place in June 2021: the government enacted the E-Waste Management Rules 2021 for electrical and electronic products, taking into account the damage caused by electronic waste.
In this context, in the proposed project, as a continuation of its previous activities, VOICE would like to review the newly enacted E-Waste Management Act 2021 and also would like to monitor the compliance of electronic goods manufacturers’ business models with the enacted rules through research and investigation. It also hopes to conduct campaigns and advocacy among consumers on responsible use of electronic gadgets and carry out policy advocacy and public debate, igniting a citizen alliance including mainstream and social media to address the gaps of the existing environmental act and its implementation.