NGO keeps e-waste out of South Africa’s landfills

Cartoon Network Africa, the leading children’s TV channel in South Africa, is partnering with the E-waste Recycling Authority (ERA) to educate children about the problem of electronic waste or e-waste.

ERA CEO Ashley du Plooy said e-waste includes “everything that works on electronic paths, including batteries, household appliances, small domestic appliances like toasters and kettles, irons, larger domestic appliances like refrigerators, freezers, stoves and electronic toys and more”.

While an estimated 360 000 tons of electronic waste is produced each year, in 2019 it was reported that only 17% of it was collected and recycled correctly.

Regulations aim to reduce

Du Plooy said this is why the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment has said electronics manufacturers must take responsibility for the extraction and safe treatment of these products when they stop functioning.

South Africa’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations aim to reduce the environmental impact of waste materials by holding producers responsible for the end-of-life consequences of their goods.

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All producers of electronics on the SA market must register with the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment and either form a compliance scheme, or join compliance schemes such as ERA.

They pay an EPR fee based on the product that they put on the market to ensure that the solutions for e-waste are developed.

“ERA has run two campaigns where we encourage the public to bring e-waste and we incentivised that. Over two days 164 tons was collected from 13 000 people,” said Du Plooy.

“Part of the regulation is that we start measuring how much electronic product is on the market and how much of it is collected and treated and kept out of landfills.”

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