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TheEdge76 Front Cover OL.pdf 1 2/8/16 10:06 AM

The Edge | 3736 | The Edge

Qatar’s vulnerability to environmental damages due to growing e-waste is no less than any other developed nation’s, but it lacks local infrastructure and legal framework to deal with this problem, writes Syed Ameen Kader.

W ith almost 100 percent of the population having access to computers and mobile phones, Qatar is hooked on high-end devices and electronic gadgets. According to a 2013 survey report by ictQATAR, the average Qatari household has five mobile

phones (nine mobile phones per Qatari-national household), more than three laptops and at least one desktop computer. As the country’s growing population continues to expand its user base of electronic products, it is no surprise that Qatar finds itself among the highest per capita electronic or e-waste generating nations in the world. Not to forget, e-waste does not include just information and communication technology (ICT) devices, but also other electricity and battery-run products such as televisions, refrigerators, air-conditioners, etcetera – a segment that also has a large consumer base in Qatar.

According to a report released last year by United Nations University (UNU), Qatar’s domestic e-waste generation per inhabitant was 16.3 kilograms (kg) against the global average of 5.9 kg in 2014, although in absolute terms the amount was only 33 kilo tonnes, primarily due to the country’s low population. The United States (7.1 million tonnes) and China (six million tonnes) – which collectively discarded nearly one-third of the world’s 41.8 million metric tonnes of total e-waste – are the biggest culprits of this. (See table, page 39)

Interestingly, unlike the matured economies such as the US or Europe whose domestic consumption of ICT devices and electronic products has grown more steadily – something that acted as a buffer period for these countries to develop their domestic industry and infrastructure to deal with e-waste – Qatar’s has moved much faster. The Gulf state’s user base of electronic devices has grown rapidly, and so has the per inhabitant e-waste generation. As a result of this, Qatar today faces the danger of discarded electronic junk building up into a toxic dump – something that poses huge health and environmental threats as well. Many developed countries have legislation in place to address this issue; Qatar seems to have none. The country had reportedly started drafting its first law for e-waste management in 2010, but no official announcement has been made so far on this. In the absence of any specific laws or guidelines, Qatar’s preparedness to deal with a growing e-waste problem is questionable. Moreover, although some work is being done in the areas of solid and municipal waste management, Qatar does not seem to have a robust e-waste management and recycling industry at present. Certainly not one to handle the volume.

E-wastE ap ocalypsE?ANAlySING ThE EffECTS of QATAR’S ElECTRoNIC ThRow-AwAy CUlTURE

The Edge | 3938 | The Edge

And this is a huge problem internationally. Another report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reveals that up to 90 percent of the world’s electronic waste, worth nearly USD19 billion (QAR69 billion), is illegally traded or dumped each year.

“The recycling rates are among the highest in the EU, but still a lot is unaccounted for. Both illegal dumping, but also organised crime are involved, as they are often paid to

E-waste dumpingComparatively, large countries such as the US and China also generate a massive amount of e-waste every year, but they collect and recycle a high proportion of e-waste domestically. The US, for example, is reported to have collected one million tonnes of e-waste, although that amount represents only 15 percent of what they had generated in 2012. China, whose national e-waste legislation manages the collection and treatment of TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and computers (desktop and laptops), officially treated around 1.3 million tonnes in 2013.

In Qatar, no statistics are available on how much e-waste is collected or recycled each year. Nor, for that matter, can anyone say for sure what happens to the gadgets and electronic devices that people discard after use? It is hard to tell, but in the absence of any legislation, one can assume much of it is sent to developing-world facilities, where often safety and environmental guidelines are not followed.

Dr. Ruediger Kuehr, head, UNU – Vice Rectorate in Europe, and the author of the report on e-waste, says, “Qatar like most countries of the Middle East are parties of the Basel Convention, an international regime controlling the trans-boundary movements of hazardous waste and their disposal. Since e-waste contains hazardous substances, e-waste shipments are also falling under the Basel Convention.”

get rid of hazardous wastes,” says Christian Nellemann, head of Rapid Response Assessment Unit at GRID-Arendal, a centre collaborating with the UNEP. Nellemann explains that the international conventions are designed specifically to assist countries and help prevent dumping of hazardous wastes. “There are always options available for countries who seriously want to deal with toxic waste and may not have the chemical facilities to deal with it. Nuclear material is one good example,” he adds.

As per the Basel Convention, trading of second hand equipment is legal only if it is allowed by both sending and receiving countries, but the dumping of e-waste is prohibited.

Local initiatives Although people are not legally bound to follow any specific rule on e-waste in Qatar, many organisations and companies have started taking some initiatives voluntarily. Qatar’s national telecom operator ooredoo, for instance, in 2011, started an initiative called ‘Big Drop Days’ by arranging a special area to collect unwanted electronic equipment for safe disposal and recycling. The company had reportedly shipped more than four tonnes of e-waste to Singapore for recycling in that year.

Vodafone, on the other hand, had launched a mobile phone trade-in service in 2014, and it was able to send more than 2000 handsets for refurbishment through its partner hyla Mobile.

“Up to 90 percent

of the world’s electronic waste, worth nearly USD19 billion (QAR69 billion), is illegally traded or dumped each year.”

“Each household

in Qatar, on an average, has five mobile phones (nine mobile phones per Qatari-national household), three laptops and at least one desktop computer.”

Dana haidan, head of CSR and Sustainability, Vodafone, says, “The initiative encouraged Vodafone customers to exchange their old handset with a 4G-enabled smartphone. Those handsets were then refurbished by hyla Mobile, formerly known as eRecycling Corps, whose job is to capture, extends and optimise the life and value of used mobile phones. They ensured 100 percent data security for customers, by professionally wiping the phones, before refurbishing or reselling.”

Globally, efforts are being made to enhance the life span of electronic devices by repairing or refurbishing them as there is a huge market for such products. According to technology research firm Gartner, the market for refurbished phones – those traded in through a carrier and overhauled before being resold – will be 97 million devices in 2016 globally.

Therefore, he adds, though Qatar, like most other nations in the Middle East, does not yet have a specific e-waste legislation in place, the ratification of the Basel Convention prohibits e-waste exports to developing countries. “In consequence, so far, after some first treatment of e-waste in Qatar, the end-processing of the hazardous components must take place in one of a handful of industrial hubs around the world. And such kinds of shipments are legal, but very often hindered by national legislations,” explains Kuehr.

The UNU report states the main feature of this scenario is that e-waste is traded freely, and usually, its quantity is not systematically documented or reported to framework or requirements. In this scenario, e-waste is often not treated in the state-of-the-art facilities, and there is a potential that e-waste is shipped off to developing countries.

Adds Kuehr, “Unscrupulous brokers are still shipping e-waste categorised as re-useable to developing countries, trying to make money out of it, though the products are junk or there is simply not market for them,” And here again, he explains, the (post-industrialised) nations can do better, preventing these exports. “But the same applies for the developing nations not allowing these imports,” he adds.

“Unscrupulous brokers are still shipping e-waste categorised as re-useable to developing countries, trying to make money out of it, though the products are junk or there is simply not market for them,” says Dr. Ruediger Kuehr, head, United Nations University – Vice Rectorate in Europe.

Dana Haidan, head of CSR and Sustainability, Vodafone, says, “The initiative (phone trade-in) encouraged Vodafone customers to exchange their old handset with a 4G-enabled smartphone. Those handsets were then refurbished by Hyla Mobile, whose job is to capture, extend and optimise the life and value of used mobile phones.”

In most developing countries, there is an enormous number of self-employed people engaged in the collection and recycling of e-waste.

(Image Arabian Eye/Corbis)

Most environmental damage and health impacts related to e-waste arise from improper collection and treatment approaches. (Image Arabian Eye/Corbis)

Domestic e-waste generated per country in 2014CoUNTRy GENERATIoN KG/PER

INhABITANTCollECTIoN/TREATMENT

United States 7.1 mt 22.1 1 mt

China 6.0 mt 4.4 1.3 mt

Japan 2.2 mt 17.3 556 kt

Germany 1.8 mt 21.6 691 kt

India 1.7 mt 1.3 N/A

United Kingdom 1.5 mt 23.5 504 kt

Norway 146 kt 28.3 105 kt

Qatar 33 kt 16.3 N/A

UAE 101 kt 17.2 N/A

Saudi Arabia 379 kt 12.5 N/A

Source: United Nations University: The Global E-Waste Monitor 2014. Million tonnes (mt), kilo tonnes (kt).

cover story | e-waste e-waste | cover story

The Edge | 4140 | The Edge

Biju Nair, CEo of the US-based hyla Mobile, who claims to have helped operators reclaim over 36 billion devices globally, says their programme with Vodafone Qatar started more than two years ago, when this practice was still maturing in the Middle East market. “Industry data seems to indicate that the Middle East market is warming up to the concept of buy back and trade in as a mechanism to retain customers and being environmentally friendly. In addition to this, Dubai is fast becoming a hub for purchase of used devices for refurbishing and redistribution to the EMEA markets,” he explains.

process e-scrap?” argues fleming. with the volume of global e-waste

expected to rise by 21 percent to 50 million metric tonnes in 2018, this poses a global challenge. ostensibly, improper and illegal dumping of e-waste is prevalent in many countries, irrespective of whether or not national e-waste legislation exists.

In the absence of appropriate infrastructure and technologies for treating end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment in each nation around the globe, Kuehr emphasises, a coordinated effort along the reverse supply chain is needed.

“This is also for not making some nations the graveyard of equipment of others and therefore a matter of environmental justice. But on the other hand, the collection and appropriate recycling of the majority of the e-waste generated is essential for harvesting resources which are rather limited on the earth-crust, but essential for our production chains,” concludes Kuehr.

“Industry data seems

to indicate that the Middle East market is warming up to the concept of buy back and trade in as a mechanism to retain customers and being environmentally friendly.” – Biju Nair, CEO, Hyla Mobile.

“The recycling rates are amongst the highest in the EU, but still a lot is unaccounted for. Both illegal dumping, but also organised crime are involved, as they are often paid to get rid of hazardous wastes,” says Christian Nellemann, head of Rapid Response Assessment Unit at GRID-Arendal, a centre collaborating with the United Nations Environment Programme.

12.8 million tonnes – Small equipment

4 billion people

are covered by national legislation.

6.5 million tonnes

are collected by official take-back systems.

USD 52 billionThe value of discarded

materials, including gold, silver, iron and copper.

Total e-waste per category

Certainly, there is a big market for used mobile phones and gadgets, and by refurbishing them, industries can to some extent reduce the amount of e-waste dumped into landfills. According to Annette Zimmermann, a research director at Gartner, instead of the 13 to 15 million refurbished iPhones coming to the market in 2016, that number could now be 20 to 30 million refurbished iPhones, thanks to such programmes. Nair says, “That’s still a small number given Apple sold more than two billion new iPhones since the release of the 6S model, but it should grow.”

But what happens to the devices that cannot be repaired further? Nair says they give those devices for recycling to their partners who specialise in these. “They will extract reusable parts from these devices and the remaining parts are disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. of the phones we process, we see about five to seven percent get recycled. others can be repurposed in various ways,” Nair explains.

Economic senseStill, what is being extracted from these defunct devices is minimal, despite its highly reusable value. The UNU report estimates that the e-waste discarded in 2014 contained some 16.5 million tonnes of iron, 1.9 million tonnes of copper, and 300 tonnes of gold (equal to 11 percent of the world’s total 2013 gold production) as well as significant amounts of silver, aluminium, palladium, and other potentially reusable resources, with a combined estimated value of USD52 billion (QAR189 billion).

Some estimates suggest the gold alone was valued at USD11.2 billion (QAR41 billion), with the metal often used in electronic devices.

But extracting valuable metals from such devices is an expensive and specialised job that not many countries have managed to accomplish. Even the US, which has a vibrant e-waste management industry, sends a lot of this waste to countries such as Belgium and Japan. These countries have better technology and cleaner factories for the extraction of precious metals from circuit boards and other complicated instruments.

Regional scenarioQatar has a handful of waste management companies working in this sector, and most of them are primarily into collection or transportation of e-waste. Besides the

41.8 million tonnes

of e-waste was generated in 2014.

1.0 million tonnes – Lamps

3.0 million tonnes – Small IT

6.3 million tonnes – Screens

7.0 million tonnes - Temperature exchange equipment

11.8 million tonnes – Large equipment

Source: United Nations University: The Global E-Waste Monitor 2014.

Worldwide disposal of e-waste in 2014

requirement of funding and advanced technology, lack of proper legislation makes it difficult to setup an e-waste recycling plant here. In fact, there are not many advanced recycling facilities operating in the Middle East region. one such plant, which is currently being developed by Enviroserve, is expected to come online in Dubai next year.

Stuart fleming, CEo, Enviroserve tells The Edge, “we will open our USD25 million investment plant with a capacity of 39,000 tonnes in Dubai, in 2017. To be called Gulf Electro Recycling (GER), the plant will offer services to ensure enviro-friendly recycling of e-scrap for the region.” he claims it will be the only such facility in the Middle East.

how lucrative is the e-waste management market in Qatar? fleming points out that one needs to differentiate between the actual scrap and what is known as the remarketing sector – in used electronics. “It’s a volume business. Qatar population and critical mass is something to consider for anyone investing

the type of funds one needs to manage it correctly,” he says, referring to the recycling side of the business; not trading. “Anyone can trade. If a client is looking for high values from their scrap, they have to forfeit data security and brand protection because they go for trade. But one has to be very careful who you trade with,” he adds.

Companies working in this sector say logistics can very quickly reduce any margin on e-scrap. “Generally, e-scrap doesn’t cost a whole lot to the end-user but at the same time, it’s not a pot of gold,” explains fleming.

Although at a slow pace, the regional countries are moving forward to develop an ecosystem that can deal with mounting e-waste. “I think it is a conundrum for the authorities right now and moves will be made once, for example, GER is up and running in which case, a genuine regulation can be put into place that provides the solution. for example, what would a country legislate if there is nowhere to formally

cover story | e-waste e-waste | cover story

The escalating global e-waste problem is driven by the rising sales and shortening life cycles of electrical and electronic equipment. (Image Arabian Eye/Corbis )