By Sharon Kiburi
Nairobi, Kenya: Automobile repair shops, Commonly known as (Garages) are among the highest contributors to electronic waste and metal waste dumping in Kenya. Although helpful in cars and machinery management, garages are increasingly contributing to the increase in carbon emissions responsible for climate change effects.
According to the global E-waste monitoring report 2020, Global e-waste documented to be collected and properly recycled is 53.6 Mt 7.3 kg per capita.
Roland Otieno Oloo, is an Auto technician who runs an auto service shop commonly known as a garage.“ I have been an auto technician for the last twenty years. I have learned diverse techniques of handling auto motives and electronic devices,” says Oloo.
Adding “In my 20 years of work in auto repairs work, often imported cars come with radios which are not compatible with the Kenyan satellite frequencies. We remove them and replace them with other radios.”
Oloo confirms how the electronic waste from cars includes engine sensors, electrical motors, and radio systems. “Electronic waste is significantly less than metal waste emitted from automobile repair shops; however, the proper mechanism for storing both wastes is lacking since there are no specific places to take them,” Oloo Narrates.
The current systems of disposing of the E-waste & metal waste electronic radios cases, engine sensors, and electronic motors involve heaping them together somewhere in a corner, awaiting interested buyers.
“We put them together in a corner until we can figure out what to do with them, as we say a hail mary for the scrab-dealers to get back in business,” says Oloo.
Oloo further noted that the closure of the scrabble-metal black market in Kenya has made it difficult for them to dispose of E-waste and metal waste.
Similarly, Nicholas Cheruiyot has been a mechanic in the Jua Kali ( Open Market garages) industry for the last ten years. “The new technologies used in cars have made it challenging to repair parts; often mechanics end up replacing old parts with new ones hence contributing to the huge piles of E-waste and Metal waste from Garages,” says Cheruiyot.
“The national and county governments need to develop mechanisms for collecting E-waste and Metal waste from auto repair shops. This will help in maintaining a clean environment and clearing space in the garage workspaces” explains Cheruiyot.
Lack of mechanism for E-Waste Management
Oloo prides himself on mentoring young people joining the profession. He says, “In my over twenty years of working as an auto technician, I have trained and mentored more than thirty students who are thriving in the industry while others own & run automobile repair shops.”
While Daniel Mwangi, an electronic repair expert complains about the E-waste menace in his line of work, he owns and operates an electronic repair shop at ‘Machupa Entertainment. “ To begin with, the business has been on a downstream, due to inflation, lack of spare parts which are not being imported due to high cost, the available spare parts are at very high prices. The repair cost is too high, and customers are unwilling to bear it,” said Mwangi.
Mwangi’s repair shop has large piles of Electronic Waste (E-Waste), “Some of these customers leave them, once they realize the repair cost is to high, others lack parts for repairing and others are distorted. We used to sell them to scrap and metal waste buyers; since the market closed, we do not know where to take them or how to dispose of them, noted.” Mwangi.
He reveals he does not have an extra storage room hence putting them in heaps at the shop. “ I store them waiting to see how much they could fetch in the market. Others that may have less value, I put them in the general garbage disposal bins.”
According to an Environmental E-waste Expert, Akinyi Chemutai, The best way to reduce the amount of E-waste is through prevention -where the product is produced to be more durable, life extension; this is achieved through repairs, reuse/refurbishing, and disposal, which is least encouraged because is more expensive.
E-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world, and yet also toxic and nonbiodegradable. All countries in the world combined generated a staggering 44.7million metric tonnes of E-waste in 2016. The amount of E-waste is expected to increase to 52.2 million metric tonnes (Global E-waste monitor 2017).
In Kenya, according to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report estimates the amount of E-waste generated at 11,000mt per year. According to the Global E-waste Monitor 2017, E-waste is growing at 3 times the rate of municipal waste worldwide. The lowest amount of E-waste per inhabitant was generated in Africa at 1.9 kg/inch.
However, little information is available on its collection rate. Africa generated 2.2 Million metric tonnes (Mt) of E-waste, and with current data, only 4 kilotonnes (kt) were documented as collected and recycled which is less than 1 %.
Very well written, e waste management needs a government policy.
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