Channelling all ewaste to one plant the best way to ensure viability of recycling in Southern Africa

The establishment of an electronic waste (e-waste) recycling plant, which can cost R1.5-billion to build, will work best if the e-waste streams from across southern Africa can be channelled to such a megaplant, says information technology asset and e-waste recycling company Xperien CEO Wale Arewa. E-waste in South Africa is generally shipped to Germany, China, Singapore or Japan for processing, as these countries have the recycling facilities to do it at scale and profitably. Most of the e-waste streams in South Africa are non-profitable, with a need for producer responsibility schemes to support recycling or sufficient economies of scale to make recycling economically viable, he explains.