India launches a project to train hundreds of thousands of people working in the unorganized e-scrap sector, and the king of Belgium helps highlight donations of refurbished computers to projects in Africa.
India: India has launched a project to train up to 300,000 people involved in the unorganized e-scrap recycling trade. The Times of India reports the effort will include establishing 125 training centers across the country by 2018 to train e-scrap dealers over the next decade.
India: Interpol and Indian officials are investigating pollution caused by illegal e-scrap recycling operations near the country’s capital. Scrapmonster.com reports the illegal operations on the New Delhi-Ghaziabad border may be leaking hazardous waste onto open plots of land and along roads, polluting soils and groundwater.
Egypt:BBC News has an interesting feature on the trials and tribulations experienced by a young entrepreneur in Egypt working to start an e-scrap company in an area without a formal e-scrap infrastructure. Mostafa Hemdan, who was candid about his early difficulties filling orders and securing financing during the turmoil of the Arab Spring, today employs 20 people in four warehouses.
Belgium: King Philippe of Belgium helped celebrate the 500,000th refurbished computer donated by Arrow Electronics and nonprofit group Close the Gap to projects in sub-Saharan Africa. He toured Arrow Value Recovery’s’ facility near Brussels and met with donation program stakeholders.
