E-waste may harm human life, says Nape
What you need to know:
- The minister insisted that the imminent danger poised by rampant e-waste my not easily seen by ordinary people, while it can easily turn into dangerous poison, and affect lives of many people and become harmful to environment and society
Dar es Salaam. The government has insisted that Tanzania and other East African member states should discuss and come up with a common way of managing electronic waste (e-waste) which if left rampant, may harm human life and the environment.
Speaking at the fifth East African Communication (EACO) Workshop on the promotion of electronic waste management, minister of Information, Communication and Information Technology Nape Nnauye said that technology was advancing rapidly, causing some of the electronic equipment that used to look useful becoming obsolete.
“Let's talk about the best way to deal with e- waste, which is being increased by discarded electronic gadgets. We should discuss and get a common understanding of dealing with rampant disposal of such items,” he said.
The minister insisted that the imminent danger poised by rampant e-waste my not easily seen by ordinary people, while it can easily turn into dangerous poison, and affect lives of many people and become harmful to environment and society.
The Director General of Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) Dr Jabiri Bakari, said that for the past 25 years, e-waste has increased by more than 10 percent, signifying the need to develop strong control measures before it is too late.
“Mobile phones are rampantly disposed to let them turn into e-waste. Currently, there are 19,000 tons of e-waste from about 2,000 tonnes. This growth of e waste is alarming, therefore we need intervention measures,” Dr Bakari Said
He attributed this growth with increasing use of telephone, where currently there are more that 50 million registered mobile telephone users in the country, while the owners have no skills on best ways of disposing of them, hence, finding their ways to the environment.
He said that in May, TCRA will officially announce a greater effort of counter measures which will include adapting various devices which are used to destroy the e-waste.
Other methods, according to Dr Jabir, will be discussing with other EACO members with the aim of getting experience from peers.
The EACO member states include Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and South Sudan.
