Johannesburg — COMPANIES are increasingly compelled to control their emissions and their environmental impact.

COMPANIES are increasingly compelled to control their emissions and their environmental impact. Legislation specific to electronic waste (e-waste) disposal obliges companies to manage the disposal of computers and other equipment. The European Union's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive requires that e-waste is dismantled or recycled by specialists because of its toxic content.

With the disposal of used IT equipment presenting a key challenge for many large organisations, the possibility of Africa becoming a convenient dumping ground for old equipment is a distinct reality.

Should this be an issue if the equipment is still serviceable? There are two possible answers: if the equipment is serviceable, it can add value, but to what extent? If it is not serviceable, it poisons Africa.

For many companies, the donation of old but useable equipment provides a convenient disposal route and is in line with their corporate social responsibility programmes. For the recipients, there is the chance to enter the world of electronics and computing.

But this social contract has a more sinister side. Investigations by environmental activists Greenpeace have shown that even completely unserviceable, irreparable computer parts leave Europe bound for Africa and Asia every day. Reported in PC World, Greenpeace said: "Some will be repaired and reused, but many are beyond repair, meaning that they will eventually be dumped in places where no facilities exist for safe recycling."

Greenpeace also found that equipment disposed of by private citizens was being sold into Africa for illegal profit. "(We have) exposed the loopholes in recycling programmes that allow illicit profits to be made by the developed world's traders by dumping their obsolete and hazardous electronics abroad instead of properly recycling them."

IT News Africa reported that many organisations donate old IT equipment in good faith, only to have that equipment illegally traded. In comments made on the news site, Andy Howell, group recycling manager at a UK computer hardware manufacturer and public sector specialist, summed up the situation thus: "I am bitterly disappointed and upset to see that IT hardware from highly reputable organisations has somehow made its way to rubbish sites on another continent ... I am certain that those organisations who were highlighted had entered into an agreement with their recycling providers in good faith, fully trusting that the old hardware would either be recycled or that any working units would be deployed to ... African countries in desperate need of actual working IT equipment."

What has become apparent is that, as with much legislation, compliance costs money, allowing unscrupulous operators to take chances.

With awareness of this issue growing in developed and developing nations, the problem is being addressed. For example, in March this year, Kenya proposed a ban on the sale of second-hand computers.

But even a ban is a double-edged sword: when Uganda implemented a similar ban last year, opinions were divided on whether this was advantageous. Many people can be given opportunities they otherwise would not enjoy by learning about computers from old machines. In Computerworld Uganda, writer Wire James put it succinctly: "My skills in IT were honed on second-hand equipment."

And refurbished PCs are not the optimised solution for connecting the unconnected that they are hyped up to be - benchmarks have shown a new PC can provide 35% better energy efficiency compared with a four-year- old PC, providing substantial savings.

The solution lies in formalising the value chain of used IT equipment. New equipment is regulated, and has customs duties imposed and controls exercised at every point of exchange. Until this happens with used IT equipment, its disposal will remain fraught with perversions.

What is clear is that African countries are facing a potentially serious environmental problem.

If the intention is to help Africa to compete globally, why give it old computers to do so?

Van Schalkwyk is territory manager for Intel in SA and sub-Saharan Africa.