Residents from North Rift have been urged to drop their electronic waste at the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Centre, which is located at the Eldoret National Polytechnic for proper disposal.
The WEEE North Rift regional officer, Emmanuel Rongoei, said for those in Eldoret, they can take their e-waste to the centre, while those in TransNzoia, West Pokot, Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Baringo counties can contact the centre through their website and arrange how the e-waste can be collected.
Rongoei cited electronic waste as bulbs, batteries, spotlights, computers, phones, and kitchen appliances like fridges, blenders, and microwaves, among others, which have either become obsolete or faulty that they are no longer being used.
Speaking during a sensitisation workshop on disposal of e-waste organised by the ICT Authority in Iten, the officer said e-waste contains toxic and hazardous chemicals, which, if not disposed of well, can come into contact with human beings, causing them health problems.
He added that heavy metals found in e-waste affect soils, leading to low food production, saying the same affects both livestock and aquatic animals once it is swept into water bodies.
Noting that E-Waste represents the biggest and fastest-growing manufacturing waste, Rongoei said the centre has so far processed over 10,000 tonnes of E-Waste and reduced 12,000 tonnes of carbon emissions into the environment nationally.
He advised people in the informal sector involved in the buying of obsolete electronic gadgets to be extra careful when dismantling them without protective gear, adding that once they remove the parts that they need, they should take what they don’t require to the centre for proper disposal.
The officer said the disposal of e-waste is not like buying scrap metals for sale and therefore they do not pay once one brings their e-waste but said they also do not charge for the disposal of the same.
“The only thing we do is weigh the waste and, after a month or so, issue a certificate to the person who brought it for helping to conserve the environment,” he said.
Purity Gitau from the ICTA said the authority has a National refurbishment centre in Nairobi, which caters to the disposal of all obsolete electronic equipment in government institutions.
She therefore called on all government institutions to take their electronic gadgets after going through the procurement and disposal process and urged them not to remove any part apart from their data.
“To us, all the parts are important as we use them to refurbish the equipment and come up with equipment which can be donated to government institutions like the constituency digital hubs,” she said.
Speaking when he officially opened the workshop, Keiyo North DCC Julius Maiyo said there was a challenge in general waste disposal in the county as people don’t follow the procedure, resulting in environmental degradation.
Maiyo said people have tonnes of e-waste in their homes, which they don’t know how to dispose of, and thus the need for sensitisation on the same.
By Alice Wanjiru
