E-WASTE ASSESSMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA - e-Waste. This guide

▪▪Jimmy's Scrap Metals: Will accept motherboards, but sells them to Desco.Schutte & Son: Do not deal much with computer waste, but accept PC boards, which are then sold toa recycler.6.2.6.2 Informal RecyclersPreliminary investigations suggest that the informal e-waste recycling situation in South Africa differssubstantially from the status quo in India and China.Precious metals are strictly regulated in South Africa. Mr Martin Griffiths of Rand Refinery explainedthat, being an ISO 14000 accredited business, his company must inspect the premises of the operationsthey deal with. They will not accept backyard products. He confirmed that, to his knowledge, virtually noinformal recovery operations still exist in Gauteng. He said that five years ago, there were definitelyyards using environmentally unacceptable means – drum burning etc. – to recover materials from e-waste. These have all but disappeared, which he attributed to the fact that, due to technologicaladvances, there are far lower quantities of precious metals present in newer generation circuit boardsthan there used to be. It is no longer profitable for backyard businesses to carry out small-scalerecycling.Discussions with Mr David Cassell of Reclam reiterated what other evidence has indicated so far: thereis little informal sector activity in this field. This echoes the experience of recovery of other material fromlandfill sites in South Africa: less than 1% of the waste stream is recycled through salvaging activities(dealt with later in this document in Section 7.2.4, entitled “Disposal”). Far more recovery takes place atindustrial and commercial outlets. These are well-networked with one another, brokering and referring e-waste to established recycling businesses.6.2.7 Refiners /Conditioners▪Rand Refinery: Rand Refinery, the principal refinery in Gauteng, processes hundreds of tonnes ofrecovered material per annum from e-waste recyclers (there were no exact figures readily available).According to Mr Martin Griffiths, the two biggest e-waste recycling companies, Desco and UniversalRecycling, have virtually cornered the local market. They receive small amounts from L A Metals,another small recycler, mostly of PGMs (platinum group metals), especially palladium. L A Metalsexport their lower grade sweeps overseas. Rand Refinery also receives pre-processed materialexported from the Far East and U.S.A – mainly precious metal dust. They principally process gold,while another refinery, IRS (Impala Refining Services) deals with high grade PGMs.6.2.8 Final DisposersThe majority of computer waste in South Africa is landfilled either in permitted hazardous waste disposalsites, such as Enviroserv’s Holfontein site, where disposal is paid for, and the client is issued with acertificate of safe disposal, or it is disposed of in the municipal waste stream and is landfilled in the localgeneral waste disposal site. Informal salvaging is discouraged in accordance with government'sdirectives. Very little e-waste is recovered from permitted landfills in South Africa. It is only in the major25/41