The Conundrum: Transforming African E-Waste Landfills to Urban Mines

Abstract

The amount of discarded electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), popularly known as e-waste, is rising alarmingly and drawing immediate attention from stakeholders. Governments in emerging economies support importing second-hand EEE to bridge the digital divide and allow communities to access the information superhighway. E-waste contains toxic elements deleterious to the environment and human health. Simultaneously, e-waste contains rare earth minerals that generate USD65 billion in revenue annually through recycling. Urban mining is reclaiming minerals from anthropogenic materials, reducing the extraction of virgin minerals facing depletion and with some sourced from unstable regions and conflict zones. The unidirectional flow of e-waste into Africa from the developed world is viewed as the re-colonisation and the carbonisation divide. Due to a lack of appropriate infrastructure and policies and low knowledge levels in developing countries, the management of e-waste is left to the informal sector, which uses rudimentary tools to extract rare earth metals. This chapter highlights the contentious definition of e-waste, its movement from the Global North, and its epidemiological and environmental impact. It advocates for setting policies and infrastructure to turn landfills and dumpsites into urban mines. This chapter also recommends that developing countries monitor the state of EEE imports and transform informal to formal recycling supported by coordinated collection and storage centres.

1. Introduction

The world population has been steadily growing, developing countries have been experiencing urban population growth, and Africa has the fastest urban growth rate, estimated at around 3.5% [1]. Africa’s urbanisation has not been matched by corresponding economic growth, service provision and job creation. The lack of job opportunities and the economic crisis in most African countries has resulted in the booming of the informal sector [2]. The rise of the knowledge economy has triggered our dependence on electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Moreover, EEE is crucial to the country’s social and economic development. It is inconceivable for modern businesses and society to run effectively without EEE [3]. Cities depend on technological devices for efficiently and effectively managing their operations [3], thus fuelling the adoption of EEE. Humanity’s pursuit of a comfortable life has resulted in rapid changes in EEE design and functionality, shorter product lifespan, exacerbating obsoleteness and raising the burden of electronic waste (e-waste).

E-waste refers to various EEE, from computer-related and telecommunications equipment, household appliances, solar, lighting and hospital equipment, that are discarded without any intention of reuse. The computer’s useful life declined from 5 years in 1990 to 2 years in the mid-2000s and will continue decreasing [4], thus fuelling e-waste. The life expectancy of small EEE such as cell phones, tablets, and laptops has been declining [5]. However, even working and meeting the functional requirements, EEE will be replaced due to obsession with the latest technology. The manufacturers also favour making new EEE products, and little effort is put into repairing old ones, referred to as design for obsolescence. Limited repair options, changes in consumer behaviour and frequent changes in technology resulting in shorter life cycles exacerbate the e-waste burden [6]. E-waste’s uncontrolled growth threatens the natural habitat and epidemiology.

E-waste generation is proportional to economic development worldwide. Based on the current consumption levels, e-waste output will reach 74.7Mt annually by 2030 from 53.6Mt in 2019 [7]. Only 17.8% of this colossal output was accounted for as recycled [6]. About 45Mt of e-waste is unaccounted for and was destined for dumpsites and landfills where it was improperly disposed of, causing public health and environmental catastrophes. Africa only produces 5.4% of the global output, but the transboundary movement of e-waste into Africa is alarming. The West illegally exports 80% of its generated e-waste to China, India and Africa [8]. Developing countries have witnessed a high demand for technological devices to participate in the knowledge economy [9], primarily met by importing second-hand EEE, which becomes e-waste quickly. E-waste management challenges are more significant in Africa, where only 0.9% of e-waste is accounted for and recycled, while 99% is unaccounted for, as shown in Table 1 [6]. E-waste management schemes such as extended producer responsibility and licencing dealers for sorting and disassembling waste do not exist in Africa, thus making e-waste management an insurmountable task. Developing countries are adversely affected by the toxic threat from e-waste as they pursue radical technological development while lacking infrastructure, policies and knowledge to deal with the emergent e-waste crisis [10]. Less than a fifth of African states have policies for sustainable e-waste management compared to a 71% global average [6].

Region	E-waste generated in Mt	E-waste recycled in Mt	Percentage of e-waste recycled
Americas	13.1Mt	1.2Mt	9.4%
Europe	12Mt	5.1Mt	42.5%
Asia	24.9Mt	2.9Mt	11.7%
Oceania	0.7Mt	0.06Mt	8.8%
Africa	2.9Mt	0.3Mt	0.9%
Total	53.6Mt	9.56Mt

Table 1.

E-waste generation and recycling by region [6].

Some of the earth’s rare metals, such as iridium, palladium, barium, terbium, europium, and gold, are used to manufacture EEE [11]. Similarly, EEE contains some of the most toxic elements, such as polybrominated biphenyls, cadmium, nickel, chlorofluorocarbons, lead and mercury. Precious metals, including palladium, iron, cobalt, gold, copper, niobium, titanium and aluminium, have over 50% re-usability rate [12]. The rare metals needed to manufacture the Olympics’ 5000 medals (gold, silver and bronze) were recycled from about 79,000 tons of electronic devices donated by residents and 6.21 million used phones [7]. As shown in Table 1, over 80% of global e-waste is processed informally, releasing environmental pollutants [13]; consented effort is required to address this problem. The biggest challenge with managing e-waste in the Global South is the lack of regulation, leaving e-waste management in the hands of the informal players, who determine handling and disposal methods [14]. The informal sector is characterised by marginalised communities and migrant workers who scavenge on e-waste to sustain a living. Illegal and informal workers recycle e-waste using rudimentary tools to disassemble gadgets and often burn components to extract valuable materials [5]. Burning and incineration release hazardous pollutants, causing environmental risks and health hazards. Toxic elements found at dumpsites leach into the soils, polluting water bodies and contaminating vegetation. In the Global South, e-waste is managed by informal workers concerned with feeding their families at the expense of epidemiological effects and environmental degradation. E-waste workers suffer from various cancers, dermal diseases and respiratory infections, while children, the elderly and pregnant women who live near dumpsites are the most affected [15].

E-waste represents a significant global challenge, but the challenges faced by the Global South, such as lack of awareness and knowledge and lack of infrastructure and policies, pose a more significant threat that requires immediate attention. However, little research, policy implementation and infrastructural investments for sustainable recycling are coming from the Global South. E-waste is the leading segment of solid waste and is generating serious management challenges due to the toxic elements contained [10]. E-waste contains rare earth metals, which must be harnessed to achieve global resource efficiency, but this requires proper recycling. The Global South must approach e-waste as a resource, not garbage; this will spur investment and development of the sector and integrate formal and informal recycling. The Global South’s strength is its vibrant informal sector which can supplement the Global North by collecting and segregating e-waste, where complex components can be exported for further recycling. The informal sector’s role in e-waste management is critical; apart from earning a livelihood, discarded equipment destined for landfills is repurposed through repairing and some usable parts are used to build new products. Recycling e-waste saves the environment and energy, reducing carbon emissions and demands for virgin materials.

2. Unidirectional flow of e-waste

From the 53.7Mt of e-waste produced globally, Africa generates 2.9Mt but is home to some of the most notorious e-waste dumpsites, such as the Olusosun and the Agbogbloshie. The illegal movement of e-waste from the West into Africa is described as the re-colonisation of Africa and the decarbonisation divide [16]. History shows that the Global North has always exploited Africa through the slave trade and continues to plunder its natural resources. About 43Mt (80%) of global e-waste is illegally dumped into Africa and other emerging economies [17]. Developing countries are wood winked as e-waste is illegally dumped with the promise to bridge the technological digital divide [10, 18]. The second-hand EEE exported into Africa would have reached its useful lifespan and immediately becomes non-functional and is discarded as waste into dumpsites and landfills. Most of the used EEE illegally dumped into developing countries is unusable, unrepairable, and detrimental to environmental sustainability and human health. It fuels informal recycling by poor communities who scavenge to recover precious materials [19].

Although Canada is legally bound by the Basel Convention, prohibiting the export of toxic waste, about 80% of its generated e-waste is shipped to emerging economies [20]. Some leading e-waste exporters into Africa are the United States (USA) and European countries, which distribute waste across the entire continent through Ghanaian and Nigerian ports [21]. Although the European Union is a global leader in environmental sustainability and governance and has strict laws in managing e-waste, it exports most of its used EEE to the Global South [22]. Worryingly, a fifth of the African countries enacted e-waste management policies, while less than 10% have appropriate infrastructure for recycling e-waste [21].

Most e-waste policies are mode around the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which appropriates the disposal burden to the manufacturer. These policies favour formal e-waste management, where consumers return products to manufacturers for a fee. Manufacturers, therefore, design products knowing the need to repair, disassemble and recycle [23]. This approach does not work for Africa as there are no manufacturers, and most of the EEE is illegally exported second-hand with no warranties. Thus, the African e-waste policy should restrict illegal imports, apportion e-waste management responsibilities to the importer, and integrate with the informal sector. African policies must reflect the current and existing realities. E-waste presents negative and positive outcomes to recipient countries; those capable will extract the rich materials in e-waste can spur economic development. At the same time, those with infrastructural limitations will expose citizens and the environment to the hazardous effects of e-waste.

It costs $72,000 to adequately recycle a ton of e-waste compared to $500 per ton to ship e-waste to developing countries [24, 25]. Iqbal et al. [26] aver that developed countries avoid e-waste recycling expenses and disposal responsibilities by illegally exporting their generated e-waste to the Global South, with no infrastructure, policies or knowledge to manage e-waste. In the digital space, the Global North uses Africa as a corridor to transfer e-waste negative externalities, where there is clear evidence of a lack of capacity to manage e-waste sustainably [27]. Considering its epidemiological and environmental effects, such as ecological injustices, and human fatalities, the e-waste movement implies the uneven transfer of the global burden and unjustifiably exposes the vulnerable in developing countries.

Due to a lack of employment opportunities, corrupt governments and underperforming economies, the urban poor and vulnerable groups have grabbed the chance to manage e-waste informally. The informal sector in developing regions such as Africa drives the demand for e-waste into the region as an active player in the e-waste value chain. The chapter considers the e-waste conundrum in Africa, its flow from the Global North, its epidemiological and environmental impact and how urban mining can assist in preserving virgin minerals and saving the planet.

3. The economic value of e-waste

Urban communities in developing countries have turned the e-waste problem and emergent threat into an opportunity to manage its accumulation by salvaging precious metals to make a living and find employment [27]. Thus, e-waste presents an excellent opportunity for the informal sector in the Global South to export high-end components to the Global North for high-tech processing, thus turning cities into rich urban mines. To harness the potential economic benefits of e-waste, countries should set up e-waste policies and acquire infrastructure for proper recycling. Only 13 African countries have e-waste policies [28].

The world produced 53.7Mt of e-waste in 2019, and revenue from recycling was estimated at around $65 billion, higher than most African countries’ gross domestic product (GDP) [28]. Less than 1% of rare earth minerals used to manufacture devices and components are recycled [29]. Some metals are extracted from volatile war-torn countries, and some have inconsistent policies that upset the value chain. Recycling these minerals will reduce dependency on unstable and high-risk countries while sustainably managing e-waste. By 2016, the world recycled 500 million tons of e-waste, and the precious minerals recovered and redirected into the manufacturing sector exceeded over $160 billion [30]. This contributed immensely to the reduced exploitation of virgin minerals, although it is less than 10% of the e-waste.

Over 300 tons of gold are used annually in the manufacture of EEE, and through formal recycling, all this gold can be recovered and alleviate pressure on conventional mining [31]. China collected and recycled 88.84Mt of recyclable waste earning $34.85 billion, which helped meet its demand for raw materials [32]. High-yield components include printed circuit boards (PCB), processor chips, wind turbines and batteries. PCBs contain 40% of all valuable materials embedded on all the boards [33]. A ton of PCBs can contain up to 1500 kgs of gold and 210 kgs of copper [34].

Collaborations between the Global North and South have seen Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya partner with Wordloop in setting up recycling plants, resulting in over 25 tons of PCBs being exported to Unicore in the Global North for high-end recovery of precious metals [27]. This has the potential to recover gold worth millions. The economic value of e-waste is incredible; recycling a million discarded phones produces 24 kgs of gold, 250 kgs of silver and several minerals such as palladium and tantalum [35]. Developing countries should turn the e-waste burden into viable economic activities to sustain livelihoods. Although unregulated, informal e-waste activities in Ghana play a vital role in economic development. The sector realises nearly $268 million in annual revenue, and over 200,000 people sustain a livelihood directly from managing e-waste [36]. Of all the informal sector jobs in the Global South, e-waste is proving to be one of the most lucrative, where scrap dealers make $50 per day, intermediaries make $35, and waste pickers make $3.50 per day, almost three times the daily average earnings [37]. Developing countries should enact policies and set up infrastructure that supports the collection, aggregating and intermediary processing of e-waste. At the same time, rich and highly toxic waste can be exported to developed countries for optimal recycling. Aggeri [29] proposed leaner manufacturing, repairing and recycling end-of-life products to recover materials which can be used for manufacturing new products, forming an endless loop. Developing countries must embrace the circular economy, which creates a closed loop where resources flow and re-circulate through the economy.

4. Environmental impact and health hazards

Several toxic elements are used to manufacture EEE, which, if not handled appropriately, is deleterious to public health and the environment. Maphosa and Maphosa [38] highlight that over 1000 substances are used to manufacture EEE; these include toxic elements such as arsenic, polybrominated flame retardants, cadmium, lead, barium, lithium and mercury. Sabra et al. [39] report that over 50 tons of mercury and 71 kilotons of flame retardants are released annually into the air, land and water through informal e-waste recycling. Research reveals that informal recycling activities in Africa released 9.4Mt of CO₂ and 5.6Kt of brominated flame retardants from illegally imported e-waste [23]. Perkins et al. [13] reported that toxic elements contaminate the environment as informal e-waste workers recover precious metals through burning and incineration, threatening the habitat and public health. Research reveals that a cell phone battery contains lithium and cadmium, which can pollute 600 litres of water [38, 40]. E-waste workers and communities living around dumpsites are unaware of the toxic chemicals found in e-waste. Virgin mining and illegal dumping of e-waste are some human activities causing the planet’s deterioration.

When e-waste is indiscriminately recycled using rudimentary tools without environmental consciousness, toxic leachates flow into the environment, contaminating potable water sources and poisoning vegetables and fruits in the surrounding dumpsites and landfills [41]. Research reveals that Ghana’s Korle Lagoon and Odaw River are heavily contaminated with e-waste toxins, which has heavily impacted the marine life ecosystem and supply of portable water [42], and poisoned fruits and vegetables. Up to 20% of farming and grazing land has been wiped out by irregular e-waste recycling in China, Ghana and Nigeria [38]. Heavily contaminated soils have infertile top soils, which decreases crop yields leading to malnutrition, hunger and various diseases. Around the Agbogbloshie, lead concentration was 18,000 parts per million against the 400 parts per million recommended by the United States Environmental Protection Agency [42]. Open incineration and burning of plastics release carbon and other toxic elements that damage the ozone layer, leading to global warming [43].

Communities engaged in informal e-waste management are exposed to diseases such as blood disorders, congenital disabilities, nausea, asthma, lung diseases and depressed immune systems. Pregnant women miscarry due to high exposure to lead [44]. Exposure to toxic fumes from acid leaching and incineration damages the respiratory system. Fatalities are high among communities living in the periphery of dumpsites and landfills [45]. Cadmium is a heavy metal found in e-waste, human exposure through inhalation and ingestion results in damaged liver, lung and testis. It may cause dysregulation of blood pressure, disturbed metabolism and the immune system while affecting the bone formation and structure [46]. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that 12.9 million women engaged in informal recycling are exposed to toxic elements that harm them and their unborn babies [47]. Studies in Bangladesh revealed that 36.3% of women involved in informal recycling and those living in the surrounding sites experienced stillbirths due to exposure to toxic elements. Additionally, 64% had hearing and visual problems [48].

Another study in China’s Guiyu province, which has the largest dumpsite in the world, revealed that women living around the site suffered more stillbirths than expected [49]. E-waste workers at the famous Agbogbloshie dumpsite suffer from gastrointestinal, respiratory and various cancers [50]. Urine and blood samples from informal recyclers in Ghana revealed high levels of lithium, zinc, arsenic, copper and barium, all heavy and toxic metals [42]. Scholars have advocated for tighter penalties and forbidding the illegal transboundary influx of e-waste into emerging economies from the West due to the catastrophic effects on the environment and health.

5. Bottlenecks to managing e-waste

E-waste collection is a fundamental phase of urban mining and the approach to the circular economy; if managed properly, it can support the formal sector by aggregating high-end and material-rich components [51]. Developing countries do not have policies and legislation to guide the gathering, separation and disposal; therefore, e-waste is discarded with municipal waste into urban dumpsites [38]. Scholars note that if information is lacking and infrastructure is unavailable, it becomes difficult for consumers to dispose of e-waste [52] responsibly. The informal sector is vital in organising e-waste according to its status and channelling repairable products into the second-hand market, where they are reused. In contrast, unrepairable EEE is directed for formal recycling [53].

In the Global South, e-waste management is spearheaded by the informal sector, but one of the key challenges is developing sound recycling and disposal systems [54]. Africa’s expansive and highly organised informal sector is a critical bottleneck for its management. Restricting the movement of e-waste in Africa is difficult due to inadequate regulatory framework and porous borders, where 80% of the countries have no policies, which also stifles internal e-waste management [55]. Some African government e-waste policies need fine-tuning to integrate the informal sector into formal recycling for maximum efficiency and effectiveness [16]. Africa’s borders are porous and riddled with corruption. Effective e-waste management will require a collaborative effort between customs officials, environment ministries and other arms of government.

To effectively manage e-waste, the narrative that labels informal e-waste recyclers as polluters of the environment has to be changed through raising awareness and training to encourage the sound disposal of e-waste. Such cynical imaginaries are critical in re-arranging circuits and influencing material and financial outflows [56]. It will be impossible to do away with the informal sector in Africa; policies being crafted should aim to integrate it with the formal sector. This will enable the informal sector to collect, separate and perform low-level recycling while allowing the formal sector to perform high-level recycling, thus promoting efficiency and harmony in the supply chain [57]. Other scholars lament using terms such as scavenging and informal as pessimistic, biased, and wrongly portraying the e-waste phenomenon [58].

The informal sector creates many job opportunities for the local communities. It assists in supplementing municipal services in keeping the cities clean and should, therefore, be integrated into the formal structures [59]. Actors in the Global South must begin to recognise e-waste as a supply of rare earth metals capable of extending and creating new business opportunities. Appropriate infrastructure to recycle e-waste will reduce the continent’s dependence on virgin minerals and extend their availability to other generations.

6. Urban mining

EEE manufacturing uses precious metals extracted through virgin mining, threatening environmental sustainability. The mining operations often upset the earth’s core resulting in natural disasters. Humanity is challenged to innovate and use natural resources sustainably, recover minerals from e-waste and preserve virgin minerals that face extinction. Urban mining is the recovery of precious minerals contained in anthropogenic materials and discarded gadgets thrown into landfills in urban environments [6]. Extracting virgin minerals is sometimes impossible or very expensive; urban mining becomes a viable method to extract rare earth minerals from anthropogenic materials [60]—urban mining results in environmental, economic, and social catastrophes without regulation and control. When regulated and controlled, urban mining creates employment opportunities and supports the livelihoods of communities that recycle e-waste. China has built 109 state-of-the-art formal recycling plants nationwide, certified based on strict environmental protection standards and financially supported by government subsidies [61]. The Chinese model is ideal for Africa, where 90% of the e-waste is collected by the informal sector for formal recycling plants, which comprise waste pickers, intermediaries and dealers. Informal recyclers sift, separate and classify e-waste components as usable, repairable or ready for recycling [27].

Urban mining is part of a broader concept known as reverse logistics, which encompasses the reuse and sustainable recovery of materials through the collection, dismantling and processing of used products which become raw materials in an environmentally sustainable manner [62]. Urban mining ensures the recovery of precious materials, minimises improper disposal of e-waste, creates formal employment, reduces health challenges from improper handling, and increases consumer and institutional awareness. Urban mining creates ‘green jobs’, supporting a circular economy. Urban mining will reverse the environmental ills caused by indiscriminate e-waste disposal [63]. Raw materials are reclaimed from discarded goods and reintroduced into the economy through recycling, reducing the waste of finite resources and prolonging the lifespan of products and resources. The growth of cities in developing countries due to rapid urbanisation is exponential to the e-waste quantities and burden.

Urban mining ensures resource sufficiency by tapping into the rich stream of critical raw materials recovered from e-waste, protecting the environment and human health [64]. Governments are battling with the gobbling up of non-renewable resources, depletion of natural materials, dependence on minerals from conflict zones and the need to reduce the catastrophic effects of improper e-waste handling on the environment and human health [65]. Urban mining can save gold and silver deposits destined for interment, worth $21 billion annually destined for dumpsites and landfills [44, 66]. Billions are lost in revenues annually as only 15% of e-waste is recycled [63]. Reverse logistics transform e-waste into urban mines, rich in the concentration of rare earth metals [27]. As cities are primary markets for EEE, discarded EEE provides concentrated ore of rare earth metals; StEP reported that mineral ores in urban mines were 50 times richer than traditional ones [66]. Urban mining creates jobs and sustains livelihoods by reclaiming raw materials and introducing them into the manufacturing industries [67].

To continue extracting finite virgin minerals, novel ways will be required to exploit deeper and more complex natural deposits, proving uneconomic. Extracting minerals from landfills will become cheaper and more feasible. Research reveals that mining a ton of conventional ore will yield 5 grams of gold, compared with 300 grams of gold recovered from a ton of discarded cell phones [63]. Urban mining is likely to be 50 times richer than conventional mining. A ton of PCBs contains about 800 times more gold and 40 times more copper than a ton of conventionally mined ore [68]. The recovered materials are reintroduced into the production lines by exploiting anthropogenic stocks destined for landfills and dumpsites [65]. It is 13 times cheaper to recover metals from e-waste ore than conventional ore; thus, urban mining is an alternative to virgin mining and promotes a circular economy where resources re-circulate [69]. Urban mining saves on electricity and CO₂ emissions. About 1.1 tons of CO₂ are emitted to extract an ounce of gold through conventional mining, and 220 kgs of CO₂ per ounce of gold through urban mining [7]. Researchers revealed that it costs $1591 for a one-kg ingot of gold through urban mining and $33,404 for a one-kg ingot of gold through conventional mining [70].

China is extensively exploiting urban mining to meet its mineral requirements for manufacturing EEE [71]. The informal sector dominates most African economies, which is the primary driver of the circular economy. Descent jobs can be created through urban mining, in line with the International Labour Organisation’s goal of transforming the informal sector and creating formal jobs for many people in developing countries [72]. The recovery of rare earth metals is currently low; failing to extract the precious resources efficiently will strain dependence on virgin materials [73]. Urban mining can transform the e-waste burden into sustainable waste management that creates jobs, protects the environment, reclaims recyclables and recirculates rare earth minerals into manufacturing industries [68].

The informal sector in the Global South can partner with high-tech recyclers in the Global North for high-value processing. Urban mining integrates informal and formal e-waste recyclers, whereas the informal sector does manual disassembling. The formal sector handles the final recovery of precious metals and disposal [59]. Oteng-Ababio and Amankwaa [74] proposed a federated model where the advantages of each method are integrated, where the informal sector collects, dismantles and segregates e-waste. Meanwhile, the formal sector uses high-tech equipment for the final recycling of complex e-waste [74]. Urban mining assists in creating formalised jobs in the informal sector, where it becomes easy to train and educate on e-waste management [5]. This will be ideal as it will allows the informal sector to be part of the global e-waste ecosystem. It is difficult to eliminate the informal sector in emerging economies; in the Global North, formal recyclers worry that the informal recyclers illegally strip high-value waste components, depriving formal recycling channels of the minimum quantities required to operate [60]. Optimal and high-end processing is done in high-tech refineries in the Global North [75].

The first step in urban mining is waste picking, where e-waste is reclaimed and channelled to recycling centres. Most waste pickers are vulnerable members of society who may face stigma and hostility and require protection through policies legalising their work. E-waste is assessed, with some gadgets being repaired and re-used in repairing broken components and creating functional devices, while some waste is destined for recycling. Plastics, glass and metal are recovered through disassembling and incineration and sent for recycling. At this stage, recyclers use rudimentary tools to dismantle e-waste. The waste is sorted based on the usability of the components or the presence of toxic compounds [76]. Basic techniques such as hydrometallurgy and pyro-metallurgy recover the precious metals [76]. Thus, e-waste is transformed from waste to raw materials used to manufacture different products. Complex e-waste components, highly toxic and rich in deposits of rare earth metals, would be exported to the Global North, where the final processing is done using state-of-the-art facilities [59]. Although complete recycling of complex e-waste is limited in most African countries, collaborations with partners with state-of-the-art equipment are necessary to complete the process [76]. Recyclers reported marginal profits of between 25 and 30%; hence, urban mining can be a source of livelihood, aggregating different players in the e-waste value chain [44].

7. Conclusions

Africa is witnessing increased demand and ownership of EEE as the continent actively participates in the knowledge economy. Rapid changes in product design, the Internet, and social media have increased the use of EEE within Africa. Due to poor economic activities in most African countries, citizens afford second-hand EEE, rapidly fuelling e-waste accumulation. The demand for second-hand EEE is not balanced against environmental concerns, as these quickly become e-waste. About 80% of African countries have no regulatory framework to effectively manage the growing e-waste burden and increase reuse and recycling. The lack of import restrictions on e-waste, the ever-increasing urban population, and the lack of formal employment opportunities have presented e-waste as a treasure trove to the informal sector, which has crafted ways to eke a livelihood. As e-waste management is unregulated, the informal sector often prioritises supporting livelihoods against sustainable means of recovering precious metals found in e-waste. Research shows the tremendous overall value of recycling through reduced environmental impact, employment creation and supporting the livelihoods of millions of urban dwellers. The lack of policies, infrastructure, financial resources and skills, and knowledge makes managing e-waste a difficult task in the Global South.

Countries in the Global North are exporting about 80% of their locally generated e-waste to the Global South. The informal sector in developing countries drives demand for used EEE, which creates employment for millions in informal recycling. Informal e-waste workers know little about the epidemiological and environmental impact of irresponsible e-waste disposal. The lack of formal recycling infrastructure results in using rudimentary tools to recover precious minerals, burning and incineration to separate plastics from metals, releasing toxic elements into the environment. It exposes workers through inhalation, ingestion and dermal exposure. Soils, water bodies and the environment are polluted, resulting in many respiratory diseases, cancers and human organ failure. Illegal e-waste dumping and the exploration of virgin minerals are depleting the planet. The informal sector views e-waste as a resource for sustaining their livelihoods; attempts to enhance the management of e-waste must embrace informal sector activities in an environmentally sound and sustainable way.

Urban mining can potentially halt the planet’s deterioration by reducing the burden of raw materials from virgin mining and ensuring that e-waste is correctly disposed of. Developing countries must enact policies that address their local needs. For most African countries, such regulations must recognise the role played by the informal sector in the e-waste management ecosystem. The informal sector should be partnered in collecting, segregating and classifying e-waste, where low-level recycling in safe environments is permitted. The informal sector collects e-waste for channelling into the formal system, which requires planning to ensure constant supply to the formal sector. Once the informal sector has been integrated with the formal sector, there is a need for continuous education and raising awareness of its potential and epidemiological concerns. The informal sector must have better access to funding and technical support and equipped with the right tools. E-waste components that require high-end processing will then be sold to the formal sector with state-of-the-art recycling equipment. If such technologies are not yet available in developing countries, partnerships with recyclers in developed countries can be accessed to complete the loop. This portrays e-waste management as a partnership and shared responsibility to protect the planet. Regulating urban mining will be critical to achieving a circular economy that preserves resources and protects the earth.

8. Recommendations

To transform African e-waste landfills into urban mines for extracting rare earth minerals to be used as raw materials, the epidemiological and economic dichotomy must be addressed to manage e-waste in Africa effectively by considering the following:

• Policies should aim at integrating the informal and formal sectors and account for the operational dynamics to transform e-waste into a treasure trove.

• Regulators must not disrupt the current model and realities but ensure that current practices are environmentally sound through training and awareness and provide access to finance for equipping the informal sector and tightening porous borders.

• The EPR model will not work in Africa, and therefore, a hybrid model that appropriates e-waste management responsibility to importers, exporters, and consumers should be considered.

• Governments should provide tax rebates for e-waste recycling infrastructure and promote research and development.

• Environmental management courses incorporating e-waste management should be taught at lower and higher levels of education.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.