Environment & Poverty Times
06 2009
UNEP/GRID-Arendal
20 21
Fernando Nilo, Founder & CEO of Recycla Chile, -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHrryi4IR8g
RECYCLA – Pioneers in recycling with social change
By Fernando Nilo
Innovation In 2003, a persistent social entrepreneur, Fernando Nilo, founded RECYCLA Chile, the first company in Latin America prop- erly to recycle electronic waste such as computers, televisions, mobile phones, fax machines and scanners.
As there was no legislation in place for recycling electronic waste, Nilo and his colleagues embarked on a campaign to raise awareness of this topic in Chile. They are now working with local authorities and other stakeholders to address the vacuum through RECYCLA. The company has also entered into agreements with social organi- zations working to bridge the digital divide such as the Committee for Democracy in Information Technology Foundation (CDI)
RECYCLA operates through a B2B model (Business-to-Business) receiving and dis- mantling collected e-waste and charging a fee for the recycling services to its clients. In recent years, its partnerships with corpora- tions (eg Epson, Hewlett Packard, Canon, Santander Bank) have been growing as companies become increasingly aware of
issues around environmental sustainability and their corporate social responsibility. Our next step will be the B2C model without charging for the service to the consumers.
Toxic challenge
Why is it important to recycle electronic wastes? E-waste is of concern largely due to the toxic and carcinogenic nature of some of the substances if processed improperly, in particular lead, mercury, cadmium and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The extreme growth rates and ever increas- ing obsolescence rates result in large quanti- ties of electrical and electronic equipment being added to the waste stream. Elec- tronic waste represents 2% of America’s trash in landfills, and equals 70% of overall toxic waste.
Strategy
The challenge lies in creating a profit- able e-waste management system. For example, to date, just as in Chile, none of the collective e-waste management sys- tems in Europe - for example Sweden and Belgium – have been able to finance their operations. So their work is subsidized by local governments. They all rely on ad-
ditional funds to finance certain steps in the recycling chain.
RECYCLA has set up a mechanism to re- ceive, collect and store electronic equipment and appliances. It then classifies the equip- ment accordingly, separating computers, faxes, printers and so on. The components to be recycled are dismantled and separated. Hazardous waste is separated according to its level of toxicity and sent to a hazardous waste disposal centre. Non-ferrous metals including copper, aluminium, and stainless steel all follow the same process. Materials are compacted and stored in containers for export to smelters that comply with ISO 14,000 standards.
RECYCLA also ensures social and environ- mental transformation through working with the prison system, which involves re- cruiting soon-to-be paroled prisoners into the company as its workforce. Their main task is e-waste recycling which involves dismantling the electronic appliances and consolidation of the parts for export. This has enabled former inmates to be incorporated into the workplace and the society in Chile.
It also emphasizes, through its awareness •
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Awards won by RECYCLA Technology Pioneer 2008, World Economic Forum
Energy Globe Award, Prague 2009 Best Practices Award, Dubai Global Social Entrepreneur Schwab Foundation 2008
Entrepreneur of the year 2007, Chilean Government
programmes, the need for extended producer responsibility especially to manufacturers of electronic products, to be accountable over the entire life cycle of products and packaging in- troduced on the markets. They must either take back spent products and manage them through reuse, recycling or delegate this responsibility to a third party.
The triple bottom line management model is applied to bring awareness and reflect environ- mental and economic sustainability as well as social responsibility. Today, RECYCLA is a rec- ognized pioneer and has won various national and international awards that have recognized its E-waste management system innovation.
About the authors: Fernando Nilo is President of
Recycla Chile. The article has been adapted by Nahla Adel Salem and Dennis Kimera who participated in the FK Norway Youth Exchange Programme.
Workers at Recycla Chile’s plant are dissembling computer monitors for recycling. Recycla Chile.
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