Electronic Waste Recycling: A viable business

M. Binda, B. Yose, L. Mnyaka

Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs, Private Bag X9059, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa,
3200. Email: mlu.binda@kzndae.gov.za

ABSTRACT
Although electronic waste is difficult to define for universal purposes, its importance is growing and with that
comes management problems. While mainly manufactured by the developed world, recently the world has
seen big growth of electronic device ownership in the developing world. This together with the illegal
shipment of obsolete electronic devices by the developed countries to developing nations has exacerbated
the need for sound e-waste management in the receiving countries. Considering that e-waste recyclables
fetch about R51.00 per desktop computer in South Africa, recycling of e-waste has a big potential. Of the
components of a desktop computer only cathode ray tubes have no recycling market in South Africa.
However their disposal is still affordable at between R0,80 and R1.80 per tube depending on where the
business is located. Enabling policies by both government and big business are therefore needed to unlock
the e-waste recycling potential and improve job creation.

INTRODUCTION

It is difficult to separate electronic from electrical appliances by definition. The definitions are best understood
by pointing out what they look like and what they are normally used for. The word electrical appliances
normally refers to machines of various sizes that are used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cooking,
food preservation, washing of clothes, boiling of water, air conditioning, etc. These are also commonly
collectively known as white goods owing to their traditional colour although producers have recently ventured
into other colours like silver. Electronic appliances make up the rest of the electricity operated appliances
such as televisions, computers, printers, phones, hairdryers, navigators, etc. The term electronic waste (ewaste) loosely includes both electrical and electronic waste for the purposes of this paper although the main
focus will be desktop computers. Since the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 1998 does not
define e-waste, it is important to note that e-waste will include electronic devices whether or not they can be
reduced, re-used, recycled, and recovered.
The growth in the availability of electronic goods, owing to reduced prices and second hand goods market, in
developing countries has introduced challenges with respect to the management of e-waste. The
management of e-waste does not simply mean disposal at a landfill site as it has valuable (such as gold,
aluminium, copper, etc) and hazardous components (e.g. lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, etc). The
economic value of e-waste has encouraged some recycling however the manner in which it is practiced
endangers both the recyclers and the environment due to improper handling of the hazardous components.
This paper seeks to introduce e-waste as a viable recycling business and a solution to e-waste management
while highlighting various legislation and best practices that interested entrepreneurs need to comply with in
order to be environmentally responsible.
2

GLOBAL SUPPLY TRENDS (GENERATION RATES)

The flourishing of international corporations all over the world elevated the importance of information and
communication technology (ICT) as companies wanted a quick response to globalisation. This shrunk the
communication time between any two countries and the term global village captures this phenomenon as
ICT introduced faster communication technologies. This wonderful development unfortunately introduced ewaste management problems to developing countries and exacerbated them in developed countries, as it
decreased the life span of electronic devices due to technology advancements overtaking usability in making
replacement decisions by customers.
Two of the most used information and communication technology devices are computers and cell phones
and owing to their quick turnover they are the most dominant in the electronic waste stream. It is estimated
that the global consumption of computers increased from 100 million in 1990 to one billion in 2005, which is

an increased of 60% per year over a period of 15 years (Anahide, 2007). Zumbuehl in 2006 estimated that
approximately 100 million computers qualified as electronic waste in 2004. Taking into account Anahides
claims this suggests that about 10% of the available computers globally could be regarded as e-waste by
2004.
It is generally accepted that developed countries produce and consume the most electronic devices
compared to the rest of the countries in the world. Electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the
European Union (EU), and probably in the world, with between 8.3 and 9.1 million tonnes of e-waste
produced in 2005 in the EU alone and its annual e-waste volume expected to reach 12.3 tonnes by 2020
(Nimpuno et al, 2009).
Developing countries are not far behind developed countries in terms of e-waste volumes (Finlay, 2005).
Figure 1 below provides some of the finding by the World Bank in the 2004 world development studies.

Figure 1. The World Bank, World Development Indicators 2004

The world development indicators produced by the World Bank indicates that while developed countries still
exhibited the higher number of personal computers per 1000 inhabitants in 2002, developing nations had the
highest growth in the number of personal computers per capita between 1993 and 2000.
Ray Lombard in 2004 estimated that approximately 1.2 to 1.5 million computers are imported to South Africa
annually. Assuming a five years span of usefulness for personal computers, 1.5 million computers entered
the e-waste stream by the end of 2009. This indicated that South Africa needs a well running electronic
waste recycling industry to be able to deal with e-waste volumes in an economically and environmentally
acceptable manner.
3

TRACKING THE MOVEMENT OF E-WASTE

Developed countries in North America and Europe are leading the development of electronic products and
therefore e-waste. They, however, export the management problems associated with e-waste, contrary to the
Basel Convention 1995 ban amendment, to developing countries in mainly Africa and India.
In 2005 the British Protection Agency conceded that large volumes of e-waste had been exported illegally
from the UK (Zumbuehl, 2006). The Basel Network in 2002 revealed that the US exported around 50-80%
(about 10.2 millions) of all personal computers sent for recycling in the US to developing countries including

India and China. It is understood that some of the reasons for these exploitations of the developing countries
by the developed communities include the lack of strict environmental laws and lower waste disposal costs.
In Europe it is estimated that e-waste accounts for approximately 8% of municipal waste (Zumbuehl, 2006)
while in the United States of America (USA) e-waste is estimated to be responsible for about 70% of heavy
metals, such as mercury or cadmium, found in landfill sites (Anahide, 2007). While e-waste proportions of
municipal waste in South Africa might be less than those found in Europe and their contribution to heavy
metal content in landfill sites may also be lower. The significance of pollution with respect to groundwater and
land may be higher than that in Europe and USA due to a lower number of sanitary landfill sites in the
country.
4

E-WASTE RECYCLING IN SOUTH AFRICA

The electronic waste recycling industries in Europe and the USA are highly developed and specialized to
handle e-waste generated in their countries. The European Union (EU) generally has higher e-waste
recycling rates than the USA (Nimpuno et al, 2009). The EU in 2005 recycled 33% (2.7 million tons) of their
e-waste while the USA recycled only 13.6% (37,000 tons) of the e-waste they produced in 2007.
It is estimated that 70% of South Africas e-waste is in storage by the owners (Finlay, 2005) and this is
prevalent for household and government departments although private companies might experience this too.
Ray Lombard in 2005 estimated this figure to be 10,000 to 20,000 tons of e-waste and expected it to double
by 2015. This storage of obsolete computers by different role players has not only been the saving grace for
the potential pollution that would have contaminated the soil and water resources but also heightened the
business opportunities for e-waste recycling as entrepreneurs would have to process the stored volumes
before processing the waste generated annually. Anahide in 2007 estimates that only about 10% of more
than 50,000 tonnes/annum of e-waste is recycled in South Africa.
5

INFORMAL RECYCLING PROBLEMS

In the South African context recycling of ferrous and non-ferrous metals is the most dominant waste recycling
stream and the only driver to this situation has been the fact that metals pay more per kilogram (currently
between R1.70 to R 55/kg) compared to other recyclables such as plastic, paper ,and cans which fetch
between R0.38 to R1.60/kg (Yose et al., 2012). The strength of metals compared to other recyclables
combined with lack of knowledge in the recycling communities of South Africa and other developing countries
gave birth to open burning of electronic waste to recover the valuable metals. During this practice
unfortunately dangerous furans and dioxins are released to the atmosphere from the additives used in the
plastic making process.
These furans and dioxins from burning of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS - computer plastic), wires, and
printed circuit boards (PCBs), breakdown slowly in the environment (Persistent Organic Pollutants) and bioaccumulate in fatty tissues of animals and humans and may cause diseases such as cancer. Apart from
open burning of PCBs and ABS, another source of concern is the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT). The CRT is a
concern due to dangers associated with its vacuum state, glass shell and lead content.
In light of the health hazardous associated with irresponsible recycling of e-waste, the KZN Department of
Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (DAEA) in the beginning of 2012 produced an e-Waste Recycling
Manual to combat this prevalent practice. This is a stepwise manual demonstrating how a computer is
dismantled in an environmentally friendly and health & safety conscious manner (Yose et al., 2012).
6

EWASTE RECYCLING AS A FORMAL BUSINESS

In 2009 the recycling industry in South Africa was estimated to employ about 84,000 people with a potential
of growing the number to 350,000 people and was estimated to contribute R800 million to the countrys
Gross Domestic Production (GDP) in 2007 (SiVEST and ADEC, 2011). The attributes of different recyclables
are given in the table below.

Table 1. Contribution of waste streams to GDP and employment (Source: Global Insight 2008)
Sector
Paper
Plastics
Glass
Cans

GDP (R millions)
607
61
77
50

Employment
14,717
40,185
17,009
37,136

It is estimated that one desktop computer has a mass of about 24kg and produces 12kg of recyclables (Yose
et al., 2012). The same mass of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic will fetch about R20-00 while one
desktop (tower, monitor, keyboard and mouse) will fetch between R51-00 and R62-00 (Yose et al., 2012).
Table 2 compares real life examples of a glass recycling business against an e-waste recycling facility. The
depicted work rates are the real work rates for each operation but the raw material collection costs and
number or workers are kept the same to allow for comparison.
Table 2. Comparison of e-waste and glass recycling business
The two entrepreneurs use a 2.5L Isuzu bakkie. Their monthly petrol costs come to R1,800 per month to
collect waste within a 25 km radius. They employ 5 workers and they pay them R1,600 per month each.
Glass Business
e-Waste Business
If 1 worker produces 600kg glass/day Then
5 workers = 3,000kg/day
(600kg*5w)

If 1 worker dismantles 9pcs/day

5 workers = 45pcs/day

If they work 20days in a month

5 workers produce 60,000kg/month

(3,000kg*20d)

If they work 20days in a month

5 workers dismantle 900pc/month

If price of glass = R0.38/kg

60,000kg = R22,800/month

(60,000*R0.38)

Then

Then

Then
(9pc*5w)

Then
(9pc*5w*20d)

If 1pc produces 12kg of recyclables Then

900pc = 10,800kg of recyclables/month
(12kg*900pc)

If petrol plus salaries per month = R9,800 Then

Profit = R13,000
(R22,800 R9,800)

If 12kg of recyclables = R51

1kg of recyclables = R4.25

Then

If 1kg of recyclables = R4.25

10,800kg/month = R45,900

Then

(R51/12kg)

(R4.25*10,800kg)

If petrol plus salaries per month = R9,800 Then

Profit = R36,100
(R45,900 R9,800)
It is important to note that disposal of CRTs in a hazardous landfill site in Durban will cost around R430-00
per ton. The mass of a monitor is about 8kg and the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) accounts for about 50% (4kg).
This suggests 240 CRTs will give a total mass of about 1 ton and therefore disposal of 240 CRTs will cost
around R430-00. The disposal cost per CRT, for a KZN operation, can therefore be estimated at R1.80
excluding transportation costs. The Vissershok hazardous landfill site in Cape Town charged R200 per ton of
CRT in 2006 (Zumbuehl, 2006) and this translates to about R0.83 disposal costs per CRT. It then becomes
important to have local information when planning ones e-waste recycling business as selling prices for
recyclables and landfill site disposal costs are determined by the market.
Sivest and ADEC in 2001 estimated the value of KZN recycling market to be around R1.6 million per month
and R200 million per annum. While e-waste is not categorically indicated in the study, it is important to note
that metals account for almost half of the market value and personal computers have metals as 50% of their
total weight (Finlay, 2005).
7

SHORTCOMINGS IN THE MARKET

Currently in South Africa we have a recycling market for most e-waste components except for CRTs and
batteries. This creates a situation where the two components are stockpiled (mainly CRT) for future
possibilities, dumped illegally by some informal recyclers, disposed of (at a fee) at permitted hazardous

landfill sites, or exported overseas for recycling. Currently the e-waste recycling businesses take the CRTs
for a fee on condition that they are not dismantled. Table 3 indicates components that make up the CRT with
their respective weights.
Table 3. CRT components and their weights (Zumbuehl, 2006)
Component
Panel Glass
Funnel Glass
Neck Glass
Frit (Solder)
Total Weight

Min Mass(g)
5,619
2,809
45
45
8,428

Max Mass(g)
6,261
3,131
45
45
9,392

Av. Mass(g)
5,940
2,970
45
45
8,910

It is important to note that the main recyclable from dismantling of CRT is glass which forms more than 50%
of the total mass of a CRT. The introduction of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs) to replace CRTs is expected to
increased reluctance in investing in the CRT dismantling technology as consumers will opt for latest
technology (LCDs) due to their portability and better resolution. The return of investment in CRT dismantling
technology will therefore be only limited to processing of existing stockpiles and CRTs currently in use
including television sets.
8

REQUIRED INVESTMENTS

Zumbuehl (2006) studied the high technology CRT dismantling processes of SwissGlas, a division of Immark
AG, and RAUG Components Inc., both companies based in Switzerland. The diagram below shows how the
CRT recycling process unfolds. Please note that while Figure 2 says plastic casings of monitor (ABS) should
be disposed of however in South Africa, today, this is no longer the case as we have a company that
produces manhole covers and roof tiles from this plastic (Yose et al., 2012).

Figure 2. Pathways for recycling of CRT (Zumbuehl, 2006)

Recycling CRT can take place in two ways namely a) crushing of the whole CRT at the start of the process
and separating the glass dust and coating waste from the material of interest which is glass and b) a neat
separation of panel glass from the funnel and neck glass followed by suction cleaning the coating from panel
glass (Zumbuehl, 2006). There are four different ways in which separation of panel glass from funnel and
neck glass can be carried out and the methods depend on the available technology. These separation
methods are called a) hot wire techniques, b) laser cutting, c) diamond cutting and d) wet jet technique and
all these are compared in the table below.

Table 4. Comparison of all four CRT separation techniques (Zumbuehl, 2006)

Techniques
Hot Wire
Laser Cutting
Diamond Cutting
Water Jet

Cost
Low
Moderate
High
High

Speed(/hr)
50
75
45
High

Glass Quality
High
High
High
High

Wet Process
No
No
No
Yes

Different glass separation techniques are employed by different e-waste recycling companies in the EU
depending on their preferences. The resulting glass from CRT recycling has many uses including brick
manufacturing; manufacturing of foam, container and flat glass; and reuse in CRT manufacturing (Zumbuehl,
2006).
Zumbuehl in 2006 put the transportation and installation cost of one CRT recycling station (Andela Stationary
Recycling System) at about US$ 300,000. Given the purchasing costs of the CRT recycling machinery,
shipping costs, and the replacement of monitors (both computer and television) with Liquid Crystal Displays
(LCDs), it is difficult to be optimistic about South Africa having a CRT recycling plant in the near future.
9

COMPETITION ENVIRONMENT

The popular e-waste recycling standards (Responsible Recycling R2 Practices and e-Stewardship
Standard) used in the developed countries have a list of all recyclers, mainly based in USA, in their
respective websites. This list consists of accredited recyclers and those whose accreditation is still in
progress. These standards have accredited or are in the process of accrediting close to 300 e-waste
recycling companies in the USA alone. While it an advantage to have these voluntary standard when working
in the USA they are currently not formally in South African. It is however said that these standards will be
extended to all Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries of which South
Africa is a member.
In South Africa the e-Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA) together with the Swiss e-waste
programme in 2009 compiled a technical guideline which is used to accredit recyclers. Recyclers complete
application forms to become members of eWASA and then, together with EWASA, set audit appointment.
Upon being audited a decision is taken by eWASA whether to accredit the operation or not. According to
eWASA South Africa only has about 32 e-waste recyclers with only about six, nationally, having been
accredited as operating in an environmentally sound manner.
KwaZulu-Natal has about five e-waste recyclers with only two having eWASA accreditation. Most recyclers in
the province might be involved in collecting and/or processing of components of computers but do not accept
complete personal computers due to costs associated with disposal of CRTs.
This creates the general feeling that South Africa is not fully prepared for the responsible processing of the
growing e-waste volumes on a number of fronts, including the number of e-waste recycling operations and
their conformance to sound environmental standards. While the re-processors of recyclable material from ewaste e.g. metals, plastic, PCBs, etc are present and confident that they can take more than double their
current input volumes (Anahide, 2007), the dismantling section of the e-waste recycling chain is the limiting
factor as it is normally undertaken by independent businesses. An improvement in the dismantling unit could
be the catalyst to improve e-waste recycling in South Africa.
10

NAVIGATING THE LEGISLATIVE ENVIRONMENT

South Africa has legislation that protects the environment against irresponsible operations and all persons
are required to comply with the legislation or face punitive consequences. This myriad of laws affects ewaste recycling operations daily business as follows:

Recycling of e-waste has the potential to trigger waste management laws governing construction of
the facilities (activity A18 & B11), storage of hazardous waste (activity A2), recycling of hazardous
waste (activity B2) and as such might require a Waste Management Licence (WML) application
through a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Basic Assessment (BA) process. Listed
activities are published in the Government Notice No. 718 of July 2009 and this legislation is
administered by Department of Environmental Affairs.

Should any type of burning be involved in the recycling processes of a recycling operation, an Air
Emission Licence (AEL) will be required as per the National Environmental Management: Air Quality
Act, 2004 (NEM:AQA). More information on the requirements of this legislation and compliance
standards thereto can be obtained from the Department of Environmental Affairs.

Should any wastewater (effluent) be produced in the recycling process an Effluent Trade Permit
(ETP) application to the relevant water service authority (C2 Municipality or Metro) might be
required.

Should process water be required for the recycling processes a Water Use Licence (WUL) from the
Department of Water Affairs (DWA) might be necessary.

The Second-Hand Goods Act, 2009 requires that dealers of second-hand goods register, within three
months of commencing operations, with the nearest South African Police Service (SAPS) office so
that they help form a forum with the community and police to discuss issues of mutual interest. More
importantly the Act seeks to ensure that second-hand goods dealers record particulars of all sellers
including their names and identity numbers.

Some components of electronic waste can be categorised as hazardous waste and as such
transportation of e-waste might require compliance with the Transportation of Dangerous Goods
Regulations administered by the Department of Transport. These regulations address issues such as
driver training, marking and labelling of packages, placarding and marking of vehicles, etc. The
South African National Standards (SANS) 10228:2006 on the identification and classification of
dangerous good for transport is also important to comply with.

As mentioned earlier in the paper not all components of e-waste have intrinsic value and therefore
some of them are discarded as waste at the end of the recycling operation. Although it is not
currently required by law it is responsible practice to keep disposal certificates provided by landfill
sites after receiving of waste from a customer. This demonstration of duty of care to the environment
is made even more critical by the possible presence of hazardous waste, depending on the
processes followed and the recycling market available.

Although not a legal requirement as well, it is important that the recycling operation obtain
accreditation from eWASA to demonstrate commitment to environmental and human health
protection. The contact details for eWASA are available in their website (www.ewasa.org).

Generally under the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 all persons are required
to observe duty of care towards the environment to prevent and / or minimise environmental pollution
at all times.

11

FUTURE LEGISLATIVE DEVELOMENTS

Section 28 of the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 allows for the development of
industry waste management plans by industry to conserve the environment, avoid and /or minimise waste,
and reduce its negative impact on human health and the environment. There are currently two e-waste
management plans proposed for South Africa under this section and they are both developed by e-waste
industry role players. The proposed plans are 1) eWASA integrated industry waste management plan
produced in 2010 and 2) ITA industry waste management plan developed in 2011. These plans can be
summarised as follows:
11.1

eWaste Association of South Africa Plan

E-WASA proposed a recycling plan for e-waste that was arranged as depicted in Figure 3 below. Note that
the red arrows indicate the flow of money while the arrows in blue indicate the flow of material in the
operation. The ring indicates the main role players in the operation.

Figure 3. e-WASA proposed industry waste management plan

The e-WASA proposed e-waste industry waste management plan covers both electrical and electronic waste
as defined by the European WEEE Directive. It proposes that producers of electrical and electronic goods
pay an annual green fee for each unit they put into the market. This is the fee that will finance the recycling
and proper disposal of their goods at the end-of-life of their products. For products that they have already
sold before the plan comes into effect, producers will be required to pay a collection fee to cover its
recycling costs. E-WASA will be in the centre of the plan determining the fees, based on market share, and
contracting recyclers (accredited by it) and collectors/transporters. The fees will be managed by an
accounting company appointed by e-WASA and from time to time e-WASA will appoint auditors to audit the
entire operation.
11.2

Information Technology Association of South Africa Plan

The ITA proposed industry waste management plan is given by Figure 4 below. With this diagram too, the
red arrows indicate money flow while those in blue indicate the flow of materials with the ring indicating key
role players in the plan.

Figure 4. ITA proposed industry waste management plan

The plan proposed by ITA focuses on the electronic waste and not electrical waste. Producers of electronic
goods will pay annual fees to producer collection schemes to facilitate recycling and proper disposal of their
products. The e-Waste Registry plays a key role in the operation by calculating recycling fees to be paid by
the producers (also based on market share), collecting joining fees for producers and producer collection
schemes, determining recycling obligations for producers, appointing auditors, etc. The fees are not
calculated retrospectively and so do not consider e-waste that is already in the communities from the various
producers. Producers will join producer collection schemes to facilitate collection and recycling of their endof-life goods from communities. The schemes will appoint collectors and recyclers guided by normal market
forces.
12

EXPORTING YOUR BUSINESS

In order to gain access into the overseas e-waste recycling market one has to comply with at least one of the
two widely accepted voluntary e-waste recycling standards namely Responsible Recycling (R2) Practices
and e-Steward Standard. In the South African context it is also important to adhere to the technical
guidelines developed by eWASA in 2009. All these three standards basically assist with responsible recycling
of e-waste by focusing on health and safety of workers and the environment.
12.1 Responsible Recycling (R2) Practices for Electronics Recyclers
This standard was developed in 2008 and has no legitimate central certification board and therefore might
lose credibility due to lack of quality control and auditor training. The standard revolves around drawing up of
an Environmental, Health, and Safety Management Systems (EHSMS) by R2 compliant recyclers. This
document addresses a number of issues including development of a policy to manage end-of-life electronic
equipment and components based on reuse, recycling, and disposal; record keeping to demonstrate material
flow; data destruction to ensure confidentiality of client information (according to NIST 800-88 guidelines for
media sanitisation); hazards identification and assessment; response and reporting plan for spills and
accidents; etc. Once a recycler has complied with R2 practices it will be awarded a R2 certificate by an
accredited certification body. Although this standard has a section on focus materials that deals with the
selection of on-site and downstream vendors, this section falls short of prohibiting recyclers from exporting ewaste to developing countries for recycling and/or repair.

12.2 e-Steward Standard for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment

The e-Steward standard was developed in 2009 and is administered by the Basel Action Network (BAN). The
standard addresses important areas in the recycling chain including data security, worker protection,
accountability, exporting of toxic materials from e-waste, etc. The e-Steward program was initially drafted for
Canada and the USA based operations but will soon be available for use by international community as long
as the operation adheres to the Basel Convention and the Ban Amendment. The standard is also in line with
ISO 14001:2004 that promotes environmentally friendly business operation.
The e-Steward also requires the business to develop an environmental policy covering environmental, health
and safety aspects. Similar to R2 standard, e-Steward standard requires conformity to NIST 800-88
guidelines for media sanitisation in terms of protection of data. Unlike R2 standard it prohibits exporting of ewaste to developing countries for recycling and/or refurbishing. It also prohibits landfilling and burning of ewaste. Upon being audited by an independent third party and found to be compliant, recycling companies are
licensed to use the e-Steward name and logo.
12.3 eWASA Technical Guideline on the Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Appliances
The technical guidelines were developed by e-WASA and the Swiss e-waste program in 2009. The scope
covers all waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and appliances, as well as their components, as
defined by the European WEEE Directive. The guideline addresses issues like data protection (without well
know and accepted standards and methods), dismantling of e-waste, handling and transportation of
hazardous components of e-waste, record keeping, etc. The main focus of the technical guideline is working
procedures within a specific operation and as a result it does not cover Basel Convention related issues.

CONCLUSIONS
South Africa has an environment of high unemployment, very low numbers of sanitary landfill sites, prevalent
informal recycling using burning as the main method of separation, scarcity of water resources, and huge
electronic waste volumes accumulating in the store rooms of government departments and big businesses.
At an estimated R36,000 a month profit for electronic waste recycling businesses, unlocking of the
entrepreneurial opportunities by government and big businesses is critical to avert environmental pollution by
e-waste and help resolve the employment stalemate.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

KZN Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA)
eWaste Waste Association South Africa (eWASA)

REFERENCES
1. Anahide, B. (2007). Green e-Waste Channel: model for a reuse and a recycling system of electronic
waste in South Africa, Masters Thesis, Master of Science in Environment.
2. Finlay, Alan. (2005). E-waste Challenges in Developing Countries: South African Case Study, APC
Issue Papers, Series 2005.
3. Nimpuno, N., McPherson, A. and Sadique, T. (2009). Green Consumer Electronics moving away
from bromine and chlorine.
4. SiVEST and African Development Economic Consultants. (2011). KZN Waste Management and
Recycling Industry Potential.
5. Yose, B., Mnyaka, L. and Binda, M. (2012) Cedara Pilot Material Recovery Facility: e-Waste Recycling
Manual.
6. Zumbuehl, D. (2006). Mass Flow Assessment (MFA) and Assessment of Recycling Strategies for
Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) for the Cape Metropolitan Area (CMA), South Africa, Diploma Thesis.