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Experts say recycling of e-waste best option

By Segun Olaniyi, Abuja
20 November 2019   |   3:55 am
Environmental experts have said that recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) remains the best option if government at all levels can leverage on it.

Environmental experts have said that recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) remains the best option if government at all levels can leverage on it.

The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, had last week assured that the ministry was making efforts to ensure the safety of the environment and mitigate the impact of e-wastes in the country.

Dr. Onu disclosed this when he received the executive secretary of E-Waste Producer Responsibility Organisation of Nigeria, Mrs. Ibukun Faluyi, who paid visited the ministry.

An expert in environmental law, Musa Ibrahim, told The Guardian that the system world was moving from linear economy to a circular economy.

Ibrahim said: “I feel the system globally now is to move from linear economy to a circular economy, which entails transforming waste to wealth and which is the basis of the recycling of the e-waste.

“Recycling the e-waste is the best option rather than allowing it to litter everywhere.”

According to him, Nigeria does not have many recycling centres, adding that the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF), has secured financial and technical support to start the recycling through an organised body of collectors and recyclers in Lagos State.

On its impact on humans, he said: “There will be a negative impact on the recyclers if it is continued to be done in a crude manner.”

A lecturer of Human Anatomy at the Gombe State University, Khadijat Bobbo, said one of the major issues with recycling e-waste was the explosive nature of the devices, which she said was due to some lithium metals within the battery components.

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