Engineering Sustainable Environmental Good

According to the Global e-waste monitor report of 2020, the world generated 53.6 Metric Tonnes of e-waste, which is an average of 7.3 kg per capita. The global generation of e-waste grew by 9.2 Mt since 2014 and is expected to continue growing and may reach 74.7 Metric Tonnes by 2030, almost doubling over a period of 16 years.

In Zimbabwe, there is little to no interest in electronic waste management. There is no legislation on e-waste management. the available environmental management legislation only speaks directly to hazardous waste and is silent on e-waste. His can be attributed to ignorance and lack of interest and is deterring the attention of electronic waste management in Zimbabwe. The government, health practitioners and environmentalists have expressed little to no concern in tackling this issue and this has resulted in little knowledge among the public on the dangers of recklessly disposing electronic waste in Zimbabwe. Despite the invisible risk of e-waste management to human health, discourse in electronic waste risk features very little in health, environmental management and disaster management strategic plans increasing the dangers of e-waste to the public and to the environment.
Most of the electronic waste in Zimbabwe is not locally manufactured. Just like in other SADC countries, much of the e-waste into the country is imported from developed countries. Huge volumes of electronic gadgets which include TVs, cell phones, fridges, laptops, toys, digital cameras and other micro electronics goods are imported from neighbouring South Africa and from Asia. Because of lack of interest, there are no efforts to quantify the electronic goods influx and determine the volumes of electronic waste dumped in Zimbabwe annually. The influx of electronic goods from South Africa, Asia,
and Europe in Zimbabwe has led to a high rate of electronic waste making Zimbabwe an electronic waste graveyard. While the electronic waste is recklessly disposed with many of the gadgets not completely dead some parts will still be working. The same parts are being imported by students for their school projects due to the move by Government to improve education outcomes by introducing practical learning. The students use the components once and dispose them too and over time this is going to keep increasing. The cost of importing the components to use once is too big for the public and is marginalising some children whose parents cannot afford to buy resulting  in a major inequality in terms of accessing this part of education. The plight is bigger for the girl child in many cases. The negative effects of disposal of electronic waste on the environment goes beyond the human public health challenges but has effects on biodiversity, soil, water quality, plant quality, air quality and climate change. At this point in time climate change and environmental conservation is a huge challenge for Zimbabwe in general.

Our solution is centered around e-waste management by disassembling the dead gadgets to collect all working components and reuse them to make new gadgets. We will start off by collecting the e-waste from dumpsites, advertise it well to make the public bring the gadgets instead of dumping them they can exchange dead gadgets for lower value.  Incentives will be offered to companies who choose to donate to us their unwanted gadgets by giving them solutions for their businesses mainly in kind through making them a working gadget from some of their components based on their needs. We will disassemble all the gadgets and reuse the working components to build new sustainable gadgets that holistically respond to several plights of the environment to respond to climate change. Over and above we will pack some of the components as kits for students who need them or require assistance with their educational projects. Our project will run some classes for young children introducing them to electronics early. This project seeks to close the inequality in access to engineering education offering all children equal opportunity to explore the subjects.

We will take it upon ourselves to advocate for the proper disposal of electronic waste as a way of advertising what we do and sensitizing the communities on the need to responsibly dispose of their electronic waste for the good of the environment and to teach others to do the same.

We will continue with advocacy to have the government respond by enacting legislation that improves e-waste management by coporates and individuals alike.

The solution will improve the lives of the general population in public health. The effect of electronic waste on public health is indirect and at the rate of electronic waste disposal today everyone young and old, men and women are at a high risk of being affected. Good management of e-waste will result in a good quality air for the people of Masvingo and Mvuma the two towns which will be our first catchment. Further to that marginalized school children who were not able to participate in practical because they could not afford electronic components will benefit, them and their parents who were supposed to fork out a fortune to access the components. The local authorities in the two towns will also benefit as the quality of water will improve over time resulting in less costs in treating the water and in turn it also benefits the people. 

Biodeveristy on the land and in water in the two catchment areas will be improved and saved from untimely death. The biodiversity improves the ecosystem which benefits the forty thousand people plus who are resident in the two towns. Soil quality for their crops will be improved.

Through our education without boarders program we launched a tech education campaign where we are currently introducing technology to primary and secondary school children. This project is specific on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics and is giving the children an opportunity to practically experience the technologies and think beyond the use cases but think about how to make similar technologies suited for their environment and being cognisant of the challenges the see everyday. This makes he children take new interest in engineering and through them we can easily desserminate our messages and they will be some of the first to act.

Currently we have had some of our students and tutors reuse components from dead gadgets to create new gadgets for home use and for school projects. These have been internally sourced from within the organization and from close friends and relatives. Some of the solutions have been deployed and seem to be working well. All of them were basically small scale. 

We are hoping to get technical assistance in establishing our International Centre for Learning Social Enterprise and Innovation to be a research center where engineering sustainable good will be done successfully. We want to raise younger solvers in Zimbabwe and other African countries in the field of engineering and technology who can respond to the climate problems and others from a younger age. 

Further to technical assistance we wish to get partners who can exchange with our students. 

Our solution solves various sticking problems using one circle. It conserves he environment, improves health, conserves biodiversity while promoting quality education for the future of work. The solution is unique for solving an ignored problem in the community chosen and may cut down the impact.

The the impact of e-waste disposal Into the environment is the biggest problem that needs to be solved. E-waste according to an Internet Society research report of 2022 it can be argued that e-waste affects the soil quality resulting in poor agriculture yields. E-waste releases hazardous substances like methene into the soil and into water. This release has a huge impact on biodiversity as well. Good e-waste management will reduce the risks associated with these hazardous substances. The best way to manage the e-waste is by putting it to good use and giving people value for it. Where people are given value they act positively. This is proved by how reusable bottles like the delta soft drinks bottles are kept in homes and treasured. They are returned for deposits and can be bartered for small corn snacks and other small treats. These bottles do not litter the environment at all. The same attitude is what can be instilled into the e-waste. It should be cherished, kept safe and exchanged for a different thing as and when required. 

The use of the gadgets to teach young children engineering will in the long run increase the demand for the gadgets as raw materials. 

We target to see Separation of e-waste from other waste- measured by receipts of dead gadgets d directly brought to the centre by individuals and coporates calling for collections. 

We target improves practical Education outcomes: registers of students using our centre to practice their electronics and robotics. Registers of solutions submitted as well as school clubs established.

The solution is driving torwards Artificial Intelligence. Gadgets to be made from the reused components will be AI driven and will be main Agriculture solutions because Zimbabwe's economy is mainly Agrobased and the need for food security is threatening biodiversity. In the face of climate change life on the land is becoming harder and only the fittest will survive. Some species risk becoming extinct if no action is taken sooner. 

Fulltime staff: 4

Part time: 7

Contractors: 2

4 years

Our team is open to all innovators interested in engineering environmental good. We have chosen a woman leader as a way of encouraging young women and girls to join us. All the men and others on the team appreciate women's leadership and give them equal opportunities to lead and participate in all stages of the project cycles. 

Our business model is leveraging a circular Economy where the customers use commodities, exhaust it's value as a certain product then come to us to seek a better technology as it keeps advancing. We offer better and timely gadgets assembled from the old components reshaped and looking better than they knew. Society today is basically intrigued by a constant supply of electronic gadgets and are basically going to run after the new gadgets. 

On separating e-waste from the other waste, people like incentives and where they are offered people will act. The value placed on e-waste will improve and it would be kept until one can redeem it's value.

All the gadgets we are intending to make can have commercial valid and can be deployed to customers for their value. That would make the projec sustainable because a source of income means it revolves and keep bringing more value.