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In September 2007, HP launched a one-year pilot project in Africa to identify sustainable recycling processes for electronics in developing countries.
HP is collaborating with the Global Digital Solidarity Fund, an international organization that works to reduce the digital divide—i.e., the gap between people who have access to information technology and those who do not—and the Swiss Institute for Materials Science and Technology (Empa). These organizations include industry-leading experts that have experience with similar projects in several Asian countries.
The project’s main objectives are to test processes and practices to make electronics recycling safer, improve the recycling infrastructure and increase recycling rates. It also has a strong social element and an environmental focus, with a goal to help create jobs while improving working conditions in the informal waste recycling sector. This effort is being conducted in cooperation with local communities and the informal recycling sector that exists in many African countries.
“We are looking to develop effective methods of dealing with waste that will allow the informal sector to flourish in a safe and sustainable manner,” said Dr. Mathias Schluep, Empa’s project manager for Sustainable Technology Cooperation.
The initial phase includes analysis of existing practices in Kenya and Morocco and a pilot project in South Africa, which will be launched in January 2008. HP anticipates the initiative will provide a stepping stone for developing a large-scale, public-private partnership for recycling electronics across Africa and in developing markets elsewhere.
In 2007, HP’s Trade-In program helped the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) dispose of IT equipment from 2,000 patrol cars and provided funds to help finance new printers. After FHP installed new HP notebooks and printers, it used the empty boxes to package the old equipment for return to HP. We collected the equipment for reuse and issued FHP a credit to offset the cost of the new products. |
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