South African non-profit company E-waste Recycling Authority (ERA) CEO Ashley du Plooy has highlighted major South African retail group Pick n Pay (PnP) as a pioneer in facilitating the collection, recycling or responsible disposal of electronic waste (e-waste). He was speaking at a joint ERA/PnP event to highlight the work of the National Economic Empowerment for the Disabled (NEED) organisation, regarding e-waste processing in Cape Town.

PnP is currently placing 215 e-waste recycling bins in its stores, all across the country, and at its head office in Cape Town. It is, Du Plooy noted, one of currently only a handful of companies taking such action.

He explained that ERA was a “producer responsibility organisation” which received fees from companies such as PnP, to help them address the challenges posed by e-waste. To this end, ERA has created an enterprise development programme in Cape Town, to repair, dismantle or recycle e-waste. NEED had, back in 2018, lobbied ERA to include disabled people in its programmes, so this e-waste enterprise was set up with NEED, at the facilities of the Cape Town Association for the Physically Disabled, in Bridgetown, nearly two years ago. The enterprise was fully funded by ERA during its first year, but during this year it has become partly self-financing (with ERA supplying the rest of the necessary funding).

ERA chief operating officer Joseph Jordaan explained the process. The electronic products and components, including domestic appliances such as hairdryers and microwaves, are placed in the e-waste bins by consumers. The bins are emptied out and brought to the NEED facility in Bridgetown. There, they are sorted and held for seven days, to allow inspection by the authorities to ensure that none of them were stolen (the South African Police Service often visits the facility, to carry out these inspections). The products are then examined and checked. If a product can be repaired, it is repaired. If not, it is dismantled, and its parts are divided into those which can be reused and those that can’t.

Repaired products are sold in a second-hand shop attached to NEED, which generates a revenue stream for the enterprise. Those components that can be reused are also sold, via a different channel, thereby generating a second revenue stream. Those components that can’t be reused are passed on to e-Waste Africa, which responsibly disposes of them. Nothing goes into landfill.

The NEED facility currently supports 65 people, most of them disabled but including abused and trafficked women. Participants receive training in the repair and dismantling of electronic products. They are paid the national minimum wage and achieve certification at the end of their first year, but NEED tries to keep them employed after they are certified.