Information and communication technology multinational Ericsson’s four-month-long e-waste recycling drive in Côte d’Ivoire, in West Africa, has established a long-term dialogue about recycling and e-waste recycling in the country and region.

The e-waste recycling initiative, in partnership with mobile major MTN, resulted in more than 70 t of e-waste collected over a period of four months.

This initiative received significant support from the Ministry of Environment, Public Health and Sustainability and companies from Côte d’Ivoire. MTN and Ericsson, with government and other stakeholders, are investigating the possibility of developing a long-term process to manage e-waste more sustainably in the country.

Ministry of Environment, Public Health and Sustainability director Professor N’guessan Alexandre notes that the ambition of Côte d’Ivoire is to be an example of sustainable development that combines its vision of economic emergence, the circular economy and green growth, which is a significant source of innovation, competitiveness and employment.

All collected e-waste has been transported to the Ericsson-approved recycling partner in Durban, South Africa. The transportation and processing costs of this initiative outweigh the value of recovered raw materials, owing to the stringent European Union Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directives (WEEE) on e-waste management that Ericsson adheres to.

“Our choice of partner in sub-Saharan Africa was selected on the basis of raw material recovery and more than 95% of the materials collected are recycled,” says Ericsson Côte d’Ivoire country manager Fabrice Konan.

The e-waste disposal campaign is an extension of Ericsson’s ecology management programme, which underpins efforts to reduce the effects of its operations and its customers on the environment. Ericsson ensures that equipment that has reached the end of its life cycle is treated in an environmentally correct manner, according to legal and environmental requirements.

“Though four months is not enough time to change individuals’ life-long behaviour concerning the handling of e-waste, let alone collect all the e-waste in Côte d’Ivoire, our joint efforts have sparked the right conversations on tackling e-waste in the long haul,” explains Konan.

The Ericsson ecology management programme is being expanded through the involvement of more countries and by increasing take-back volumes for its customers. Ericsson’s product take-back and recycling levels have increased significantly, from 9 800 t in 2013 to 15 900 t in 2014.

As part of the company’s extended producer responsibility, Ericsson provides free product retrieval and safe disposal services to all cus-tomers globally for equipment that has reached the end of its shelf life. In January 2015, a similar project was run by Ericsson and MTN Benin, collecting over 20 t of e-waste. Ericsson’s ecology management programme has, since its formal start in 2005, taken back e-waste from more than 107 countries, Konan concludes.