Old electronic gadgets were piling up in my household, some obsolete a few years ago, because I could not identify a safe way to dispose of them. My desk had drawerfuls of old computer cables, cell phones, and dud reading tablets.
At one time, our local Council announced that if we put small electrical goods in a transparent bag on top of the wheely bin, they would take them away. I tried that once or twice, and they were dumped back on the pavement. Then, in 2023, KCC even announced they would collect them, but that never got going around here. The local tip also advertises that they will take WEEE (Waste electronic and electrical equipment), but I do not have a car to get there, and there is no way of getting staff attention if one arrives on foot with a wheelbarrow of stuff at the gate.
Then, two computers became unusable this summer: the first, a venerable Apple Mac (circa 2013), when the touchpad became unusable, and the second, a pre-owned Experia XPS, which I had tried to repair using a kit from i-fixit. Microsoft’s decision not to support Windows 10 after this October must have created a surge of waste, too, in my neighbourhood and in the world.
The more I read about the rare minerals in electronic goods, the more uneasy I feel about not being able to recycle them.
A surprising call from Congo
I got a surprise phone call in mid-summer from a Congolese photographer I had worked with when I lived in South Africa. Although a refugee then, he has since returned to Congo and was calling from the conflict region of Eastern Congo (his home area, actually). I think he must have gone there from Kinshasa to take new photos. He told me that what was going on was horrible, what people were doing to each other, and then the call suddenly cut off.
Based on what he had told me previously about his home area, there is an age-old population conflict stemming from pressure on resources from incoming migrants from Rwanda. But there is also the more recent, fierce conflict over the world’s need for cobalt, tantalum, coltan, and other elements used in the manufacture of computers and cell phones. Nvidia chips are made of tungsten, copper (both mined in Congo), tin, aluminium and gold. The curse of Congo is that it is rich in minerals, which generate wealth for those who can grab them.
Critical elements needed for modern technologies
There is also increasing demand for ‘rare earths’, such as neodymium, cerium, and scandium, among seventeen in total. By definition, these elements are extracted from underground strata and then require further processing with acids to extract what is needed. There are also minerals such as palladium, used in catalytic converters, and lithium, used in batteries, which are in growing demand. Nearly all of these are produced mainly in China, although the extraction process is messy, environmentally harmful, and risky for laborers.
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Guilty feelings about electronic waste and SUEZ’s recycling efforts
In truth, I was beginning to feel guilty about the blood treasure boxed up in my obsolete electronic gadgets. I was delighted when a leaflet was pushed through my letterbox advertising a Saturday collection of electronic waste at the local RC church hall. I duly arrived at the advertised time with my big bags of WEEE. The volunteer who greeted me sorted the contents – cell phones in one place, computers in another. She said they would all be taken away by the team from SUEZ, a recycling company, which transports them to a waste processing facility near Sittingbourne.
SUEZ had set up a stall opposite at the same venue, and I was also able to quiz them about what would happen to the WEEE they were taking away. It is a highly complex story, which I looked up on their website after my visit. The company employs some 5733 employees, has a turnover of £928m (2021), and diverted some 6-7m tons of material from landfill into more productive uses. I was pleased to note that the map there (2020 data) shows that Kent and Surrey local authorities are coloured in as some of the better areas for recycling.
I noted in the list of SUEZ publications that they are working on strategies for the circular economy. This is extremely complex, requiring the expertise of chemists, engineers, transport and business managers, economists, and behaviour change advisers.
Technical challenges and environmental concerns of gadget reparability
On the technical side, what interests me is whether it is practicable to encourage more gadget repairs. Having experienced how difficult it is to even open that old Experian computer, which requires specialist screwdrivers and a lot of patience and time, I am skeptical about the prospects of expanding reparability. It either requires a significant increase in the number of those (mostly confident males, man-in-his-shed types, with a good stock of tools) willing to spend hours tinkering at home, or a larger number of skilled workers in the repair economy, together with a price incentive that makes it cheaper to repair than to buy the new model. This runs counter to the thrust of the consumer economy, which profits from getting customers to spend on new models and fashions.
Consumers, especially those who are time-poor, are mostly happy to buy new if the price is right. But if they think as citizens, concerned about the health of our planet, they may realise the dangers of using up the planet’s rare earths and precious minerals within a couple of generations, and then dumping them in landfills, polluting the local environment and the air we all share.
Thus, we need to make it really easy to recycle our WEEE. That was the view of the community activists at the local RC church, St Teresa’s. They had volunteered to go to the trouble of opening their hall for collection, identifying the expert company that manages the recycling, and publicising the event by printing and distributing leaflets.
Electrical recycling event draws praise and awareness
Una Donovan, who organised the event, remarked, “We think the event was a great success, as both tubs were completely full of electrical equipment, with bread makers, cabling, printers and microwaves proving the most popular items, not to mention the electronic equipment collected: boxes of drives, tablets, Kindles, laptops, CPUS, mobile phones. It was really fantastic that you set up the display and explained what happens to equipment that is recycled. Everybody who passed through thought it was very informative. It made people think about what they might have at home to recycle, and it is amazing how much of an electrical product can be recycled these days.”
And Atlanta, the rep from Suez who attended the event, commented
“Collecting 740 kg of WEEE at this event was a fantastic achievement and a real testament to the community’s commitment to responsible recycling. It was great to engage directly with residents, answer their questions, and see how enthusiastic they were about doing the right thing for the environment.”
Are there any other community organisations in Kent and Sussex that could organise a similar collection event in their halls?
