The Global LEAP Awards are an international competition to identify and promote the world’s best, most energy-efficient off-grid appliances. In 2019, the Global LEAP Awards launched the inaugural Solar E-waste Challenge to identify innovations in solar e-waste management across sub-Saharan Africa. Through a rigorous evaluation process, the competition selected eight winners spanning five countries to implement projects in consumer awareness, take-back and collection, product reuse, repair & recycling. This blog series explores solar e-waste ecosystems and provides insights into each company’s unique challenges and opportunities.
“We are showing what is possible with an enabling policy environment that supports both off-grid solar and the e-waste recycling industries. We hope that our Solar E-Waste Challenge project can be used as a case study for other countries working towards green development and growth.”
-Olivier Mbera, Country General Manager, Enviroserve Rwanda
Nestled in the green hills of Bugesera Special Economic Zone southeast of Kigali, a giant blue Enviroserve Rwanda warehouse welcomes visitors from around the world. As the first electronic waste processing facility in the country, the pristine e-waste campus represents a uniquely Rwandese approach to sustainable growth. In close partnership with the government, Solar E-Waste Challenge Winner Enviroserve is championing e-waste management for the growing off-grid solar market.
Rwanda’s Commitment to Green Growth
With one of the fastest growing economies on the continent, the Rwandan government has demonstrated admirable commitment to green growth and climate resiliency, investing in clean energy access and sustainable e-waste management. In an effort to achieve universal electrification by 2024, Rwanda has set the goal of reaching 48% of the population with off-grid energy solutions. Enviroserve Rwanda is capitalizing on this opportunity to revolutionize the way that consumers and companies think about e-waste from the off-grid solar sector.
Inside their facilities, Enviroserve boasts state-of-the art electronic waste recycling machinery and a “laboratory” for solar product repair and refurbishment. Through the Global LEAP Awards Solar E-Waste Challenge, the company plans to establish thirty collection centres spanning every district in the country and key border points to collect waste from Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“We want to provide full recycling services to companies across Rwanda and establish collection points in every district, including border points. We want people from even neighboring countries to bring their electronic equipment to us. Eventually we will have collection points and agents in neighboring countries,” explained Olivier Mbera, Country General Manager of Enviroserve Rwanda.
Creating an E-Waste Ecosystem in Rwanda
The Government of Rwanda and Enviroserve Rwanda Green Park through a Public-Private Partnership agreement have been developing e-waste management policies, regulations and infrastructure in Rwanda over the past several years.
Enviroserve is committed to support Rwanda in achieving its ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDC) targets by mitigating CO2e emissions and establishing sustainable recycling of e-waste.
“There is a big potential for a large and cohesive e-waste ecosystem. The government also recognizes that e-waste management has the potential for environmental, health and social impact, they have been very proactive in helping us set up operations.” The government is an investor in the company and provided the plot of land in Bugesera for the e-waste management campus.
Collaboration with the Informal Sector
Prior to launching Enviroserve Rwanda, the informal sector dominated the e-waste market in Rwanda. Integration and collaboration with the informal sector is a central tenant of Enviroserve’s e-waste management strategy and Solar E-Waste Challenge project.
“Informal sector workers across Rwanda use the valuable components and dump the rest in unsafe ways. They openly drain battery acid or throw hazardous materials into the environment. Since Enviroserve launched, we train informal workers and started an exchange program. We give them materials they need for repair and they give us their unwanted components.”
Without a recycling company to partner with, solar companies operating in Rwanda were either storing end-of-life (EoL) and default products or paying exorbitant fees to ship them abroad to be processed. “They were renting warehouses or shipping products to Kenya. Both options were expensive so we came in and provided a solution.”
The Global LEAP Awards Solar E-Waste Challenge Project
The rapid growth of the off-grid solar sector in Rwanda presents an opportunity for the reuse and refurbishment of products, as well as a challenge for waste management. Establishing dispersed collection and repair points will ensure that Rwandans have access to sustainable, clean energy options and institutional support if products fail.
Through the Solar E-Waste Challenge, Enviroserve Rwanda is addressing the social, economic and institutional capacity barriers to e-waste management. Their Challenge project aims to:
· Develop a collection system that covers 100% of Rwanda and can collect 70% of e-waste from solar products in the immediate region
· Design a software dashboard and tracking system to provide logistical optimization and efficient communication with product users
· Conduct a nation-wide consumer awareness campaign targeting solar companies and users to educate them on proper disposal and location of collection points
· Establish a battery storage system that can recharge and refurbish batteries collected from off-grid solar products
· Increase facility processing capacity through the procurement of a bulb eater, cable stripping process, and plastic conversion system
“The Solar E-Waste Challenge will equip us for the massive increase in solar usage. Through a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University Africa (CMUA), we are working on battery testing to more efficiently reuse and recycle batteries collected from the off-grid sector,” explained Mbera.
Enviroserve hopes to demonstrate to the sector a viable and mutually beneficial partnership model between solar and recycling companies:
“We are showing what is possible with an enabling policy environment that supports both off-grid solar and the e-waste recycling industries. We hope that our project can be used as a case study for other countries working towards green development and growth.”
