Ericsson and MTN Ivory Coast joined hands to launch a campaign to drive awareness and collection of electronic waste (e-waste) in the country. An e-waste collection station was open to the public at Sorbonne Plateu in the capital Abidjan last month and will be in place for four months.
A 20-foot container serves as a collection depot. Here, citizens can bring in old phones, computers and other electronic equipment to be disposed of in a safe and responsible manner. The container will also serve as an education and awareness center that will be manned by volunteers. At the close of the campaign, collected e-waste will be transported to an Ericsson-approved recycling partner in Durban, South Africa.
The e-waste disposal campaign, which is also supported by the Ministry of the Environment of Ivory Coast, is led by Ericsson’s ecology management program to treat the end-of-life equipment in an environmentally correct manner following all legal and environmental requirements.
It is able to recycle more than 98% of the materials from the e-waste. Ericsson is is expanding its ecology management program both through involving more countries and by increasing take-back volumes. Product take-back and recycling levels have increased significantly, from 9,800 tons in 2013 to 15,900 tons in 2014.
As part of the company’s extended producer responsibility, Ericsson provides free product retrieval and safe disposal services to all customers globally, for equipment that has reached its shelf life. The company continues to expand its ecology management program involving more countries and increasing take-back volumes for its customers.
In January 2015 a similar project was run by Ericsson and MTN Benin, both countries are in West Africa. Ericsson’s ecology management program has, since its formal start in 2005, taken back e-waste from more than 107 countries.
