Electronic Waste Management and Disposal methods in Addis Ababa University: Challenges and Prospects

During the last few decades, the electrical and electronics industry has experienced an enormous growth. The increase in consumption of electronic equipment has been unprecedented. Increase in the use of electronic products have resulted in increases in production of these products and hence create a new waste, or coupled with increasing consumption is the increasing accumulation and generation of Waste Electrical and Electrical Equipment / WEEE, commonly known as electronic waste / e-waste. The study was conducted to examine the management of e-waste and its disposal methods in Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in particular the generation and status of e-waste, management practices. The networking with actors in relation to e-waste management was also observed to suggest possible recommendations for proper e-waste management in the university. The qualitative method was adopted and the research approach is a case study. The most important data collection instruments were questionnaires, interviews, observations and review of documents. The study was conducted in four campuses of Addis Ababa University. . The respondents were selected purposively based on their responsibility. Accordingly, the General Service Department officers were selected for filling the questionnaires and in-depth interviews. The study estimated that the total amount of e-waste is about 4982 in number. (Main campus 2648, science faculty 648, Institute of Technology 903, and FBE Campus 783). The most important causes of e-waste generation in AAU are rapid obsolescence rate, lack of maintenance, the demand for the new equipment and accessories. Regarding the actions taken to manage the e-waste, about 4660 of 4982 put in store, only 138 of them donated. There are about 46 rooms, which could be served as offices for academic staffs in the university that are occupied by e-waste. Recycling, reusing, donating and reselling the e-waste have not been practiced in the university. The major reasons for storing of e-waste are absence of good disposal methods, poor maintenances, upgrading and refurbishment. Awareness on e-waste is very low among the General Service Departments officers. Currently the university is not implementing any of the management options of waste materials due to the administrative, informative, economical challenges that make the implementation dormant. Making partnership with stakeholders to manage e-waste is not practiced. Therefore, there is a need to adopt specific legislations that specifically deals with e-waste and creating links with the four key actors in waste management such as the authorities, manufacturers, waste dealers and the users to design effective management system.