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change these devices, has led to a growing problem of electronic
waste (e-waste). Launched in 2010 in Nairobi, and the first of its kind
in East Africa, theWaste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Centre
is a not-for profit organization operated by local entrepreneurs
that collects, dismantles and processes e-waste for the capital
and several other major Kenyan cities. Similarly, the East African
Compliant Recycling Company is working with the private sector
in Nairobi and other Kenyan cities to collect and treat cathode ray
tube monitors. These initiatives have helped in the development
of the first legislation on e-waste (under the leadership of Kenya's
National Environmental Management Agency). Similarly, in
Latin America, e-waste is becoming a priority for national and
local governments and has generated significant private sector
involvement (although still on a small scale). In some of Colombia’s
major cities, separation of e-waste at source is already taking place.
Construction of landfills
Both Colombia and Mexico have managed to reduce the use
of open dumps as a method of solid waste disposal (Del Pilar
Tello Espinoza et al., 2010). In other Latin America countries,
the proportion of the population covered by sanitary landfills
is relatively low,
8
mainly because of the low priority given by
local authorities to the issue, the costs involved and investment
needed for the operation and maintenance of landfills, and
institutional weakness – particularly the failure to enforce
existing laws and regulations. In Kunming (China) there are two
landfills in operation, one of which is financed through a carbon
credit project (Scheinberg, Wilson and Rodic-Wiersma, 2010). In
other low-income countries such as Ethiopia and the Republic
of Yemen, the prospects are less optimistic, largely because of
poverty and internal conflicts.
E-waste.
Photo
©
iStock/Kaycco