2016, a successful year for the ‘Education for Changing the Electronic Waste Cycle in Burundi’ project.


The “Education for Changing the Electronic Waste Cycle in Burundi” project carried out by GLICE with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation and WorldLoop, is entering its third year.

The project has achieved many of their 2016 objectives in order to strengthen the capacities of the WEEE centre, such as:

  • Strengthening the capacities of the recycling centre by acquiring young people to the centre.
  • Implementing activities in order to raise awareness:
    • 2 infomercials in written press
    • 2 infomercials on the radio
    • 1 infomercial on the RTNB (Radio, Television national of Burundi)
    • Raising awareness Days at universities et professional institutes
    • Participation to socio-cultural activities: fairs, the celebration of the World Telecommunication Day and of World Environment Day
    • Participation to E-Waste Academy Managers (EWAM 2016) in Nairobi and Kenya
    • Raising awareness via social media
    • And many more


 

  • The volume of the WEEE collection: a total of 33.6545 kg of e-waste was collected

This year, GLICE has faced some challenges, in particular due to the political, social and economic sensitive situation in Burundi. The absence of a legal framework also poses a challenge to implement a positive solution for e-waste on site, and the export of complex factions to Europe is a long and complicated process.

The project will run until end of 2017, and as entrepreneurs, GLICE will continue their activities over the coming years. The objective for 2017 is to gain a complete autonomy. With this ambitious target, Glice will have to face different challenges:

  • Maximise the collections in order to reach or exceed the 100 tonnes. The enactment and the execution of the decree regulating of the e-waste management in Burundi will boost the collection expectations.
  • The acquisition of a proper space to locate the centre will be beneficiary for the stock capacity and the storage.
  • With the technical support from our traditional partners and our future partners, they will focus on the solution of the R3: repair, recycle and reuse. It’s an activity that will bring an added value to the profitability, but it will also create green jobs for young people.

After the enactment of the decree regulating the e-waste management, GLICE will continue lobbying the authorities for the implementation of an ordinance on the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) via an import tax to finance the end-of-life management of electrical and electronic equipment.

Let’s work hard this year and achieve the targets!