Programme de bourses "Echanges Universitaires"

Communication and information framework for a systematic and visual presentation of the green e-waste channels in South Africa
seco programme “Knowledge Partnerships in e-Waste Recycling”

Master thesis student:
Anahide Bondolfi
Rosière 7
1012 Lausanne / Switzerland
078 647 64 09
anahide.bondolfi@gmail.com

Supervision:
Suren Erkman, University of Lausanne, Institute for Land Management Policy and the Human Environment (IPTEH), Lausanne / Switzerland
Suren.erkman@unil.ch

Mathias Schluep, Empa Technology and Society Lab, St.Gallen / Switzerland
mathias.schluep@empa.ch

Lene Ecroignard, Basel Convention Regional Centre, Pretoria / South Africa
lene@baselpretoria.org.za

There is no specific legislation for the management of e-waste in South Africa. Due to the absence of an efficient take back scheme for consumers together with the current lack of appropriate financing mechanisms for collectors and recyclers only a fraction of the e-waste (estimated 10%) currently finds its way to recyclers, whereas the rest gets landfilled. In response to that situation and backed by a Swiss - South African knowledge partnership, a national e-waste strategy is being established and so called "Green e-Waste Channels" are being built up in the provinces of Gauteng, Western Cape and Kwazalu/Natal. The intention of the “Green e-Waste Channels” is to pilot the establishment of infrastructure for a take-back and recycling system in communities.
Experience with the establishment of the green e-waste channels has shown that there is a general lack of e-waste awareness in the public and an increasing demand of all kinds of information material. Thus the ultimate goal of the master thesis is to establish a corporate framework for a systematic and visual presentation of the green e-waste channels in front of the key stakeholders and the public. Based on the experience from the current results of the seco programme and from similar systems in Switzerland/Europe the essentials of such a framework will be defined for the specific situation in South Africa. The thesis will be approached in three steps:

• Step 1: Definition of the elements of a green e-waste channel. The first step will define what a green e-waste channel consists of (infrastructure, service provider, etc.) in South Africa. Once the definition is suitable for South Africa it should be generalized, so that it can be used for other countries. This step will be based on literature study, interviews and site visits and results will include a visual picture of the green e-waste channel.
  
• Step 2: Communication and information tools. The second step will define tools needed for disseminating information and fundamentals for the establishment of services to the green e-waste channel (training materials, trainers, etc.) and communicating the idea of the green e-waste channel to the public and the key stakeholder (corporate appearance with a common logo, information leaflets, interactive DVD’s, etc.). The need for communication and information tools will be assessed by interviews with the key stakeholders and should be based on the result of step 1 for each of the different elements of a green e-waste channel. This step will deliver basics for the establishment of an identity of a green e-waste channel (basics for a corporate identity, a marketing concept, an information dissemination concept, etc.) and present a collection of established communication and information material from running systems in Switzerland/Europe.
  
• Step 3: Case study recycling centre. The third step is based on a study carried out in Cape Town by another student, where a business model is established for a waste-to-art and recycle centre (“Footprints”). It is intended to assess the applicability of such a business model to a similar recycling centre in Johannesburg/Pretoria and to make recommendations on how to supplement the business model with communication and information tools. In this step a recycling centre is taken as a case study for one of many possible elements in a green e-waste channel. Lessons learned from this case study will serve for the improvement of the framework as established in step one and two.

This master thesis will be carried out within the seco programme „Knowledge Partnerships in e-waste recycling“, which is run by the Swiss Federal Institute for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). Activities in South Africa will be carried out in cooperation with the Basel Convention Regional Centre Pretoria, the e-Waste Association South Africa (eWASA), the IT Association South Africa (ITA), and the Tshwane University of Technology Pretoria and concentrates on the Gauteng province.
For further Information on e-waste in South Africa visit:
http://www.e-waste.ch/case_study_southafrica/ or http://www.e-waste.org.za