Germany/Africa – A project led by Germany’s environment-focused Oeko-Institut is investigating sustainable solutions in Africa for the recovery of scarce and valuable metals from locally-generated end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment as well as end-of-life vehicles.
The aim is to develop and implement new strategies for recycling these scrap flows in a manner that respects public health and the environment, and that is socially acceptable.
Together with partners from industry, new recycling structures in Ghana and Egypt are to be set up and tested through pilot operations, with the goal of increasing local value creation. Recycling conducted within the pilot operations must comply with international social, safety and health standards and should create jobs locally. At the same time, components that cannot be recycled in the region in an efficient and environmentally friendly way are to be exported to specialised high-tech refineries in Europe. Consequently, both Ghana and Egypt will become better connected with recycling structures in industrialised countries.
A consortium including Oeko-Institut, Umicore and Vacuumschmelze among others is working with competent partners in both countries, namely City Waste Recycling Ltd in Ghana and CEDARE in Egypt. Running from June 2012 to May 2015, the project is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
www.resourcefever.org/project/items/global_circular_economy_of_strategic_metals
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