Mobile phone recycling brings hope to Ivory Coast
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 - 12:13:06
In a new report by BBC News’ Tamasin Ford, the extent of the mobile waste problem which Ivory Coast faces is revealed. But there is hope for this West African nation, in the form of efforts to improve recycling rates.
While the country’s major towns and cities offer a wide variety of mobile phone repair shops, the rise of affordable smartphones has meant that people are better able to buy new handsets and thus throw away old phones, rather than repairing them.
The problem with electronics being discarded in large numbers is that the hazardous materials which they contain will seep into the soil and water supply, thus posing a huge risk to public health and prosperity.
Thankfully, thanks to campaigns organised by local charity, Mesad, awareness about mobile phone recycling is being raised and the people of Ivory Coast are being encouraged to responsibly dispose of their unwanted electronics, because there is usually a bit of money to be gained.
The same tactics are already widely deployed in the UK, where people can choose to sell their old phones to a wide number of recycling companies, even having the option to compare prices, to find an offer that is most appropriate.
There is less choice at the moment in Ivory Coast, with Mesad being the first organisation to open a mobile recycling centre. But now, rather than old phones being thrown away, a growing number are being collected by teams of volunteers and money is being injected back into the community through the charity.
Many of the mobiles collected in Ivory Coast end up in France, where they have the facilities which can actually carry out the recycling, so this is an international effort to prevent environmental damage occurring in Africa.
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