PM Network - May 2015

Trash or Treasure?

Strategically assessing the e-waste problem can also help organizations identify innovative project opportunities. For instance, in 2014 IBM, a PMI Global Executive Council member, partnered with an Indian research firm on a pilot project to design and build adapted power packs from discarded lap-top batteries. The project team found that 70 percent of the batteries had enough power to keep an LED light on more than four hours a day for a year.

The final product, dubbed UrJars, provides a
cheap lighting solution for the approximately 400
million people in India who live off the grid, Vikas
Chandan, PhD, a research scientist at IBM Research
India’s smarter energy group who led the project,
told MIT Technology Review. His team estimates
that UrJars, including an LED light and mobile char-
ger, can be produced for INR600 each—less than
half the cost of a typical rechargeable lighting device
in the country. “The most costly component in these
systems is often the battery,” Dr. Chandan said. “In
this case, the most expensive part of your storage
E-waste projects are also creating job opportu-
nities in developing countries. When PMI Global
Executive Council member Hewlett-Packard part-
nered on a large-scale e-waste recycling project in
Nairobi, Kenya in 2013, the company helped train
locals to run the e-waste collection points as busi-
nesses. And it hopes to use that project plan as a
blueprint for a sustainable recycling system that
can be replicated in other developing countries.

From the Ground Up

In Tanzania, the Finnish and Tanzanian governments have partnered to recover e-waste materials to spur the growth of hardware businesses.

Tanzania Science and Technology (TANZICT) is an e-waste recovery initiative underwritten by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs that draws technical support from U.K. not-for-profit Tech-fortrade. One of the program’s first projects was to create a workshop at TANZICT’s innovation center in the city of Dar es Salaam to teach local metalworkers how to recover materials from paper printers and scanners and use them to build 3-D printers. Thanks to the workshop and with the support of the TANZICT team, workers began building printers in January.

Fortunately, easy access to bulk e-waste means the team has ample material to work with. That lowers the cost of production, which is key to the success of this project, says Jacqueline Dismas, head of TANZICT’s 3-D printer development project, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. “3-D printers are very expensive. If we can make them locally by accessing materials found in the country, we can provide this technology at a much lower cost,” she says. The project team was scheduled to start selling printers to the public by April, at a cost 70 percent below that of imported 3-D printers.

A comprehensive and collaborative approach to managing the rising tide of e-waste—spanning product planning, disposal and recycling—is the best way to respond to this global problem, Dr. Kuehr says. “The companies that make these products must take responsibility, and team up with other players in the industry to share information

—Sarah Fister Gale

“E-waste is an issue
that must be addressed
collaboratively, by multiple
stakeholders. Each project
plan must be adapted to
the local conditions of the country.”