Skype - e-Waste. This guide

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A
CAPE TOWN BASED REGIONAL
INTEGRATED
E-WASTE MANAGEMENT FACILITY-
A Replicable Concept for
Sustainable e-Waste e
Management
in Developing Countries
Susanne Dittke (EnviroSense CC)
Western Cape Portfolio Group Coordinator:
e-Waste Association of South Africa
Phone : +27 21 706 9829
Mobile : +27 83 462 6665
Email : envirosense@xsinet.co.za
Skype : ENVIROSENSE
www.ewasa.org

Key Stakeholders Involved
Jointly funded by Hewlett Packard (HP), the Global Digital
Solidarity Fund (DSF) and the Swiss Institute for Materials
Science (EMPA) for a total of $ 105 000.
Run by Recover e Alliance (NPO) under direction by Gerry
Newson.
Current Operational partners:
– Wasteplan, Wasteman, Footprints, Salesians Institute.
Monitored and evaluated by EnviroSense CC.

Core Business of
Recover e Alliance
Refurbishment, Reuse, Recovery and Dismantling of
Equipment for Downstream Recycling.
Primary Focus: Recovery of function by ensuring that all
suitable equipment is refurbished and repaired, and made
available for “Reuse”.
Secondary Focus: Through the use of a manual dismantling
process, encourage Recovery of all materials and
components that can be either
- Reused as part of other entrepreneurial initiatives,
- have increased value as a result of separation prior
to subsequent external industrial Recycling.

Description of the e-Waste e
Recovery Facility Activities
Testing, Repairing and Refurbishing.
Dismantling (for external industrial recycling)
- Stripping of equipment (mostly PCs, printers, monitors
and domestic electronics)
- Removal and temporary safe storage of CRT tubes
- Removal of labels and metals from plastic casings
- Removal of plugs and connectors from cables.
Waste2Art Product Development & Manufacturing.

Working Principles
E-Waste
is mainly generated as a by-product of the
Repair and Refurbishment processes at the plant.
Only once it is at the “point of no return” is it considered
to be e-waste. e
Through careful and selective processing, the resulting
e-waste is easily manageable, with little or no hazardous
risk at the plant.
Manual separation, ensures that maximum volumes of
materials/components are removed and/or recycled,
lessening significantly the related waste ending up in
landfill if compared to an automated process.

Launched in March 2008

Vision for Operation of Plant
The pilot plant has from the outset been planned to :
Cope with changing demands from the public and
businesses for an efficient and integrated e-Waste e
management service.
Serve as a testing ground for the development of a
blueprint
Function as a low tech/high labour intensive
operation suitable for typical demographic and
socio-economic profiles in developing countries.
Envisaged capacity: up to 150 tons/year with max
20 people.

Operational Space Sizes
Reflecting the current need, the available total of 335 m 2 is
allocated as follows:
IT testing and repair (incl. lockable safe)
TV and Domestic Appliance Testing & Repair
Equipment Dismantling
Sub Assembly Dismantling
Storage:
15 m 2 (container)+
20 m 2 (external storage)
W2A Development & Manufacturing
(incl. lockable office)
Communal & Meeting Areas
90 m 2
20 m 2
80 m 2
20 m 2
35 m 2
40 m 2
50 m 2

Key Performance Indicators for Project Evaluation
Activity
Area
KPI 1
(Volumes)
KPI 2
(Economical)
KPI 3
(Social)
KPI 4
(EH&S)
General
Physical
size of
working
area
Facility set-up
costs
Number
and names
of working
partners
Location of
Plant and
risk factor
in terms of
EH&S
C&S
(Collection
& Sorting)
Weight of
material
collected
and sorted
Total income
and expenses
Sources of
manpower
to collect
and sort
Risk from
Hazardous
processes
T&R
Testing,
Repair &
Refurbish
ment
Number
and types
of units
tested and
refurbished
Number and
types of units
sold or
donated
Workforce
size and
experience

Activity
Area
KPI 1
(Volumes)
KPI 2
(Economical)
KPI 3
(Social)
KPI 4
(EH&S)
D
Dismantling
Number
and types
of units
dismantled
Income from
components &
materials
Workforce
size and
ability
Type, Qty,
Weight and
handling of
separated
hazardous
fractions
W2A
Waste to Art
&
Manufacture
Qty and
types of e-e
waste used
for art
Income
generated
from sale of
manufactured
products
Total amount
of people
empowered
by W2A
Awareness
of handling
potentially
hazardous
materials
E&A
Educational &
Awareness
Activities
Income from
training given
to staff of
satellite MRF
projects
Qty of people
receiving
training &
skills transfer
No of
people
receiving
EH&S
induction
training

Total Number of People
Employed Per Work Unit
IT Testing & Repair 2
TV & Domestic Appliance Testing & Repair 2
Equipment Dismantling 5
Sub Assembly Dismantling 1
W2A Development & Manufacturing 3
Project and Marketing Management 2
Daily operations co-ordination
ordination 1
TOTAL: 16
The number of people engaged at present is adequate for the
efficient operation of the facility.
Within the available space, the number of staff could possibly
increase by a further 50% to total of 24

Testing, Repairing and
Refurbishing

P.C's
Mouse
Printers
U.P.S
VCR/DVD units
Dstv receivers
TV's
MAJOR Equipment Units Received and Processed at Plant (By month)
Monitors
Keyboards
Laptop PCs
Telephones
Faxes & Copiers
Power Supplies
Hubs, Switches
and Routers
Scanners
Mar/April
184
254
32
5
5
16
50
11
4
19
10
May
140
129
439
98
170
1
90
34
3
19
43
65
1
June
93
284
16
25
54
2
40
5
9
10
3
5
6
36
July
60
145
36
20
42
2
3
9
9
8
4
5
August
81
215
28
6
61
20
16
4
39
9
26
Sept
118
69
84
209
21
6
3
2
4
7
26
10
33
Total
UNITS
676
1096
603
358
380
31
141
71
29
99
135
122
11
55
43

Examples of Equipment Suitable for
Refurbishment, Repair and Reuse
PCs 37 from 676 5%
Keyboards 50 from 603 8%
Monitors 64 from 1096 6%
Printers 18 from 380 5%
Copiers & Faxes 2 from 71 3%
Notebooks 4 from 31 13%

Example of Monthly reporting
Equipment sold during period of project
Sales April May June July August September October November Total Donations
Monitors 5 7 3 4 8 18 45 5
System Case 1 6 2 1 10
Motherboard 6 4 5 15
PCs 1 1 1 4 3 4 14 6
Notebooks 4 4
Printers 1 2 1 1 5 1
Memory 5 1 4 1 11
Power supply 1 5 4 1 7 18
Mouse 1 1 1 2 5
Keyboard 3 2 5
Hard Drive 1 2 1 4
CD Rom Drive 1 4 5
Mixed components 2 1 3 4 2 12
Speakers (Pair) 1 4 1 6
Fax Machine 1 1
TV 2 1 2 5
VHS Player 1 1
Telephone 1 1
Radio 1 1
Cables 1 1 20 22
Rand Recovery 1140.00 3315.00 1385.00 2632.00 2200.00 5485.00 16157.00

Basic Financial Evaluation of
Refurbishment Activities
The value of Refurbished IT related equipment sourced through
normal drop off and collection programs and currently in stock
for reuse, by sale or donation, is estimated to be in excess of
R57000,00.
PCs & Workstations from equipment reserved by clients for
donation, has a current stock value estimated to be R7000,00.
Stocks of TVs and other domestic appliances that are
currently being serviced, are expected to provide R4000,00
of additional income.
TOTAL STOCK VALUE OF EQUIPMENT FOR RE-USE: > R 68 000

Dismantling

Types of Components &
Materials Recovered
Traditionally, the main components & materials
recovered within the facility (regardless of the
incoming mix received) include:
– Light steel
– Aluminium
– Copper
– Light cables and wiring
– Cable connectors
– Medium and low grade electronic circuit boards
– Styrene based plastics
– Lead Acid batteries + numerous other smaller batteries
– CRT monitor and TV Tubes
NOTE: CRTs, TV tubes are disposed of at the Vissershok
(Cape Town) hazardous landfill together with a few smaller
items. Everything else can be recycled further downstream,
including lead acid batteries.

Volumes of Materials &
Components Recovered
Since March 2008, the amounts separated and recycled have been:
Light steel Kg 22075 @ R 27320
Aluminium Kg 463 @ R 5254
Copper Kg 261 @ R 13553
Light cables and wiring Kg 826 @ R 5682
Medium &low grade electronics Kg 2121 @ R 17304
Styrene based plastics Kg 5895 @ R 6441
Lead Acid batteries Kg 712 @ R 1496
TOTAL: Kg 32353 @ R 77050
Special batteries & components (Under(
evaluation for disposal solution) Kg 1000
Sub Assemblies materials (In stock for “Waste to Art” applications) Kg 2000
CRTs and LCD displays disposed off as Haz. waste Kg 7000
Non-haz. materials & residues constituting general waste Kg

Recovery Efficiency
Recycling vs. Disposal
Total Separated eWaste
(Excluding working equipment sold,
donated or still in stock)
Recovered for Recycling/W2A:
Recovered for Safe Disposal:
43 353 kg
34 353 kg
< 9 000 kg
Recovering for Recycling Efficiency: > 79%

Basic Financial Evaluation of
Recovery Activities
Total “Recovery Value from Recycling”
- (March-Sept 08) : > R 77 000,00
Total “Recovery for Safe Disposal” Costs:
- Hazardous Waste: < R 5 500,00
- General Waste: < R 500,00

Waste2Art Product Development &
Manufacturing

Key Statistics related to Waste2
Art operations
Manufacturing and Marketing of Waste2Art actively started
in Aug 2008
Sales value to date : R 15 000
Stock value ready for sale: R 20 000
Value of current production line: R 15 000
TOTAL VALUE GENERATED: R 50 000

Marketing of Recover-e-Alliance
and its Activities
Registered as an NPO and a member of eWASA, ITA and
the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce.
Own website marketing activities and products on
http://www.ewastealliance.co.za
Regular advertising of services via:
– Selective mail-shots,
– advertorials and the Chamber newsletter,
– on radio (e.g. Cape Talk 567), and
– by inclusion in the DEADP Recycled Products Catalogue
Manned displays at exhibitions, showing ranges of clocks
and jewellery manufactured at the Maitland plant and by
independent Alliance partners.

SWOT Analysis Results:
STRENGTHS
None of the recovery or dismantling processes
undertaken, involve physical shredding or processing of
material in a manner that would create dust or residue
that would be hazardous to health or the environment.
Increasing interest from corporate users to make use of
the project, to test & refurbish equipment on their behalf,
which can then be donated to charitable organizations in
their own name.
As an NPO there is greater opportunity to attract better
quality equipment from corporate users, who in turn,
may possibly benefit from the additional CSI opportunity.

SWOT Analysis Results:
WEAKNESSES
Quality of the equipment received can be poor, but is
improving.
Incoming mix changes regularly making long-term
operational planning very difficult.
Our 3 MRF processes can be replicated in any area, but it is
not always practical to include Corporate refurbishment
programs or large scale manufacturing of W2A.
Maitland MRF is not ideal for the promotion of Waste2Art
products. New methods of promotion are being investigated
including Internet and Tourist Markets.
Suitably enclosed transport for bulk pick-ups from
businesses, is not always readily available.

SWOT Analysis Results:
OPPORTUNITIES
Material available for sale or donation is now increasing as a
result of improving quality of incoming equipment.
It is estimated that the current processing volumes can
increase by up to 30% with no increase in personnel, and by
60% within the existing available space.
Long term plans of Recover e Alliance
include the
establishment of a separate centre that focuses on
“donation” projects.
To man additional facilities, additional technical staff will be
required. Training courses are being identified, and the
establishment of a separate Fund for this further education
process is being considered.

SWOT Analysis Results:
THREATS
Confusion about possible Government regulations (e.g. EIA
requirement ?) for initiatives that focus on any aspect of e-waste e
management.
Management of e-waste e
in facilities like ours may be illegal by
virtue of their potential exposure to hazardous content. (This
would however also include all traditional Computer, TV and
Electrical repair shops).
Not replicable as a blueprint unless the process itself is
acknowledged to qualify for exemption.
Lack of availability of stock for W2A initiatives to produce long
runs (e.g. 100 similar pieces). As a result, products are often
unique, and as a result, quite expensive to purchase.
Function recovery is increasingly sacrificed for material recovery
ry
from automated e-waste e
processing facilities.

Key Recommendations to identify
suitable Drop-off off Facilities
For INDUSTRY/COMMERCE - secure drop-off off points capable of
handling small numbers of large volumes.
SOLUTION: Partner with waste management companies,
offering the e-Waste e
collection facility as part of their
existing service contract to corporate clients.
For the PUBLIC - “public friendly” drop offs that can handle large
numbers of small volumes.
SOLUTION: To increase the number of suitable public drop
offs by making facilities available at shopping malls and
retail outlets is currently being discussed.
For SMALL BUSINESSES - ideal set-ups still need to be explored.

Acknowledgements
HP
DSF
EMPA
Recover-e-Alliance
eWASA
ITA

And all the amazing staff at our
MRF that make it happen…..