The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has warned that African countries, including South Africa, are losing potential economic value by exporting electronic waste (e-waste) to overseas markets, instead of processing and recycling it locally.
According to the think-tank, the continent continues to ship large volumes of discarded electronic equipment − including smartphones, computers, batteries and household appliances − to Europe and Asia for recovery and beneficiation.
This results in lost opportunities for local manufacturing, mineral recovery, job creation and the development of circular economy industries.
It says Africa possesses significant untapped potential in e-waste beneficiation, particularly as demand grows globally for critical minerals and recyclable materials used in modern technologies and renewable energy systems.
The warning comes amid growing concerns over rising volumes of e-waste across the continent, driven by rapid digital adoption, shorter device lifecycles and increasing consumer demand for electronics.
In a statement, the CSIR says according to industry experts, printed circuit boards, or PCBs, are the most valuable prize in the e-waste value chain.
But in Africa, such components are often exported rather than reclaimed locally. Worse, perished electronics are simply left for dead, dumped or dismantled unsafely, says the research body.
“PCBs sit in every electronic piece of equipment or device,” says Dr Moshe Masonta, an electrical engineer and CSIR lead of a South-South partnership on e-waste regulation and recycling at scale within Nigeria, South Africa, Colombia, India, Malaysia and the Dominican Republic.
South Africa is represented by the CSIR, the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, while Nigeria is represented by its National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and the Nigerian Communications Commission.
Losing economic value
The CSIR notes that it is well-versed in e-waste problems and solutions, since it has been driving circular economy projects and policy shifts in South Africa for many years through the Circular Innovation South Africa programme, an initiative of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation.
“Currently in Africa, we do not have large-scale dismantling of PCBs, so most countries end up losing economic value by sending these PCBs to Europe and Asia,” says Masonta. “There is money to be made, but Africa is not benefiting.”
Masonta and other experts from Africa, Asia and Latin America are sharing practical lessons to help countries strengthen e-waste regulations and reporting, promote extended producer responsibility and move towards a circular economy for electronics.
The formal exchange is supported by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency of the United Nations and the Colombian government.
“The starting point is really our mobile phones – how many times do we change those and end up leaving them in a drawer? So, there have been concerns about the contribution of telecoms and the information and communication technology sector to electronic waste, but not much effort goes into ensuring responsible management,” Masonta says.
The ITU has found that globally, 62 million tonnes of e-waste are generated annually, but only 22.3% is formally collected and recycled.
It notes that countries with e-waste regulation perform much better, with average collection rates of 25%, while countries without regulation collect close to 0%. Countries with extended producer responsibility laws also have improved collection and recycling.
Anastasia Akhigbe, deputy director of the Electrical Electronics and Waste Control Division at NESREA, says the exchange has already shown that many e-waste challenges are shared across countries in the South-South region.
She expects the outcomes of the project to assist Nigeria in data management and policy reviews on e-waste.
“The robust extended producer responsibility reporting portals for South Africa and India are something Nigeria is looking at incorporating, as well as informal sector integration,” she says.
“Research into the utilisation of problematic fractions in e-waste is another area of interest.”
In South Africa, a report by national mineral research organisation Mintek noted that PCBs remain the most valuable fraction produced by firms, yet 90% are still exported to Europe and Asia.
Metals, phosphor powders and plastic fractions are also largely lost to export rather than feeding into local recycling projects, says the think-tank.
That report, which formed part of South Africa’s national waste research, innovation and development roadmap, stated that local processing can only be economically viable if systems are in place to consistently collect large volumes of e-waste.
Dumping default
Masonta says discussions with industry in April showed that e-waste dumping remains the default, but companies are willing to work within a proper recycling system. These discussions formed part of the final ITU study tour of the project, hosted in South Africa after earlier exchanges in Colombia and India.
The participating countries are therefore looking into ways to integrate the informal waste collectors, reclaimers and pickers into the post-consumer collection value chain for large-scale formal dismantling and recovery of valuable materials like PCBs.
“If regional blocks in Africa can agree on where to build a large-scale centre to collect and properly dismantle PCBs from across Africa, whether it is in South Africa or another country that has the capability, then e-waste economic value can remain in Africa,” he says. “However, to achieve all these, especially the responsible dismantling and recycling of e-waste, there is a need to build the necessary skills and capabilities.”
Masonta cautions that every country’s context is unique, so there is no one-size-fits-all policy solution to manage e-waste. Instead, the six countries are pooling their knowledge to publish guidelines and a toolkit that any other country can use to develop its own e-waste regulations.
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