A pioneering project in the Sinai is suggesting ways of getting rid of sometimes toxic e-waste, writes Mahmoud Bakr Have you ever dumped an old mobile phone battery in the rubbish bin? Or taken out an old cassette recorder and put it next to the rubbish? We all know that we need to do something more useful with e-waste, but so far no one has told us exactly how to dispose of it. Environmentalists have long warned of the perils of e- waste. Most electronic equipment contains hazardous substances, such as lead, cadmium and mercury. Such materials, useful as they are once recycled, pose a great threat to the environment if poorly disposed of. However, for people living in South Sinai, the answer is easy. Just walk to a recycling centre within striking distance of your home or office and leave your old radio, your ancient screen monitor, or the assortment of wires and chargers you've forgotten how it came into your possession in the first place. Hotels, offices and resorts in South SinSinai ai are now part of a concerted effort to collect and recycle e- waste. The effort is being orchestrated by the governorate of South Sinai in cooperation with the mobile phone service provider Mobinil and the environmental company Spear Ink. "Sinai without e-Waste" is the motto organisers have chosen for their campaign. Sherif Eissa, director of health and environment at Mobinil, says that awareness of the dangers of e-waste is crucial to the success of efforts to clean up South Sinai. Civil society, the government and private businesses must all be aware of the need to curb the damage that e-waste can cause, he adds. Nabil Makram of Mobinil is working on a plan to manage the disposal of e-waste. This involves sorting out refuse at source, organising transport to recycling centres, developing and maintaining landfills, and raising environmental awareness. Waste disposal is a job-creating field, Makram adds. Recycling refuse is one way of steering the country towards a green economy and lifestyles that are environmentally friendly, and jobs created during the process can be described as "green jobs". Projects like the one in Sinai, experts say, could also help reduce pollution resulting from mining and the burning of hazardous refuse. The appropriate disposal of e-waste reduces greenhouse-gas emissions and allows large amounts of expensive metals to be reclaimed. Electronic equipment produced using recycled materials could be 50 per cent cheaper than equipment manufactured from scratch, Makram says. For his part, environmental expert Mahmoud Dawoud points to the fact that the South Sinai project involves the setting up of collection points in hotels, resorts, airports and other venues that are convenient for disposing of e-waste. Collection boxes are emptied at regular intervals, and their contents safely transported to recycling centres. When the project is fully up and running, the recycling itself will be conducted in coordination with international bodies specialising in the field. The UN is already cooperating with 30 national e-waste recycling units around the world, and the drive properly to dispose of e-waste is inspired by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, a key international agreement in the field. By Mahmoud Bakr
