(A column highlighting scientific, technological, engineering and design innovation in Africa)
E-Lab, a three-month-old startup founded by 19-year-old Kenyan Alex Mativo, who is also its CEO, developed a new method to get rid of hazardous e-waste by turning it into resourceful and reusable items like sculptures, jewelry and shoes instead of the traditional system of collecting and dumping.
E-Lab will then use the art pieces, jewelry and shoes for anti-jigger campaigns in rural areas of Kenya.
A computer science major in the University of Nairobi, Mativo says he created E-Lab to facilitate the environmentally safe disposal of waste in Kenya and possibly keep cancer in check and promote employment. His goal is to expand the concept to other cities in Africa.
E-waste is “a rather new environmental problem due to Africa’s exponential growth in the number of mobile phones users and electronics over the last couple of years,” he says.
Some 20 million to 50 million tons of electronic products have been generated worldwide in recent years, a figure that continues to rise every year. They account for 5 percent of all municipal waste worldwide, about the same as plastic packaging. However, e-waste is more hazardous than plastic packaging and is growing more rapidly because people are frequently upgrading to new cell phones, computers, televisions, printers, audio equipment and other electronic devices.
The average lifespan of computers dropped from six years in 1997 to just two years in 2005 in developed countries. Cell phones and computers cause the majority of e-waste because they are replaced far more often than other electronic devices.
Mativo plans to collaborate with the mobile service companies that are responsible for the 3,000 tons of e-waste generated every year to set up an art challenge for youths 15 to 22 years old. The challenge will be to identify electronic waste in their local surroundings and transform it into creative art pieces.
E-Lab has been featured in TechMoran, a Nairobi media company that gives the latest news on Africa’s innovative web, mobile and hardware startups. The Kaufmann Foundation selected it as one of the world’s 50 most brilliant startups for the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Week.
