When it comes to issues concerning electronic waste - or e-waste - the South African public remains apathetic.
So says the founder of Sustainable IT, Tim James, who is of the view that unless there is proper education on these issues, broad-based e-waste will continue to flounder.
He explains that SA has a broad set of socio-economic issues that are almost all developed which many developing countries don't have, but the threat of climate change will make these issues pale into insignificance.
James notes the catastrophic climate events are just the taste of things to come and points out that government needs to take an active role when it comes to electronic recycling or - 'e-'cycling' - and e-waste.
“In order to achieve this, local councils need to become more active in recycling in general, not only e-waste.”
He says: “Government is starting to realise that job creation in the form of 'green jobs' ticks many boxes and although promoting sustainable business is not where it should be yet, I think we are on the right path if government sticks with the messages that it has recently been promoting and actually delivers on them.
Hope for e-cycling
However, with campaigns like Miss Earth SA, all hope is not lost. The programme aims to create awareness on environment, wildlife and the conservation of natural legacy in SA.
According to the national director of Miss Earth SA, Catherine Constantinides, SA is only getting on track now and still has a long way to go in terms of e-waste.
“Recycling, as an industry in this country, is far behind, but we have to start somewhere. During 2010, we introduced an e-waste initiative within the greater Johannesburg region.
Through this initiative, we have mobilised communities and created a much-needed awareness, of e-waste, what it is, why it needs to be disposed of and a means to do so,” adds Constantinides.
She explains that another contributing factor that makes people take less part in recycling is the lack of infrastructure, which only frustrates one and makes recycling e-waste more tedious.
Constantinides emphasises that government needs to back the initiatives that are being done in the public space and needs to ensure that they move forward.
Further, comparing SA to a developed country like the US, which has more than 50% of adult citizens engaging in e-waste programmes (according to a report that was issued by CEA earlier this year), SA is slowly moving to the right direction.
Slow improvement
Keith Anderson, executive council member of the e-Waste Association of South Africa (eWasa), says the awareness of e-waste is growing daily with more and more companies and individuals starting to take action.
She says to ensure that SA moves to a low carbon economy, the government needs to work around lack of legislation and be more involved in matters concerning e-waste.
In an attempt to try and make SA a greener country, Anderson believes the government is not involved the way it should be.
She explains that if the government should come up with legislation and enforce fines, there will be much difference in the rate e-cycling is currently going.
Presently, urban areas are the core target for e-waste because the amount of e-waste they accumulate or have to dispose of is far greater than other areas.
Constantinides says:” We target higher LSM [living standard measure] communities because they are also the communities that can immediately change their disposal habits on a daily basis, at work, home and play.
E-waste is not an issue that has been widely talked about in SA and the educational side of e-waste recycling is very important across the board.”
“At the very least, public depots should be created that are known within communities,” notes James.
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