Africa’s e-waste conversation is often framed mainly as a problem of pollution and illegal dumping. That concern is real. But it can also obscure a more important economic reality about the continent’s e-waste value chains:
Africa is not only an end-point for waste. It is also a global life-extension engine for electronics. And the biggest value leak is often not at collection, it is in the missing middle between repair and reuse on one side and responsible downstream recycling on the other.
The Numbers Matter, But They Do Not Tell the Full Story
Globally, 62 million tonnes of e-waste were generated in 2022 and only 22.3% was documented as formally collected and recycled.
In Africa, documented formal collection and recycling remains below 1%.
These figures are alarming, but they can also mislead decision-makers if taken in isolation. They largely fail to capture the informal “keep-it-working” economy the repair, refurbishment, parts harvesting and resale systems that extend device life every day across the continent.
A Better Lens: Africa’s E-Waste Chain Is a Ladder, Not a Straight Line
In many African contexts, the e-waste value chain does not operate as a straight line from purchase to disposal.
It works more like a ladder.
A phone, laptop, or television can move through multiple stages before it becomes waste:
- First life: New device
- Second life: Used import or local resale
- Third life: Repair and parts cannibalization
- Final life: Dismantling into fractions such as cables, plastics, screens, batteries and PCBs
- Export of high-value fractions: Especially where local downstream capacity is limited (for example, printed circuit boards)
This ladder already functions like an industrial system. The problem is that it is rarely recognized as one.
And because it is not recognized, it is often not financed, not measured, not protected and not supported with training.
Why the Policy Context Is Changing
The stakes are already changing.
Under the Basel Convention e-waste amendments that took effect on 1 January 2025, controls were expanded so that both hazardous and non-hazardous e-waste shipments are subject to Prior Informed Consent (PIC).
This policy shift could reshape cross-border flows. It also creates a narrow window for Africa to move from being a price-taker in informal scrap markets to becoming a rule-setter in a more dignified circular economy.
The Missing Middle Africa Should Build
The missing middle is not just a policy concept. It is an infrastructure and coordination gap.
What is needed is a network of value-stabilization nodes: local hubs for aggregation, testing, data wiping, grading and safe dismantling that connect informal collectors and repairers to formal recyclers and compliant export channels.
This is where value becomes bankable.
At the moment, much of the informal chain captures value through speed and survival. Under those pressures, harmful practices such as open burning can emerge.
Formalization Must Be Built Around Dignity and Incentives
The human cost is not abstract.
WHO estimates that up to 18 million children and adolescents and 12.9 million women may be at risk from exposure linked to informal e-waste recycling.
That is why formalization cannot be built on enforcement alone. It must be designed around dignity, incentives and practical inclusion for the people already doing the work.
A Better Question for Africa’s E-Waste Strategy
If Africa wants a serious e-waste strategy, the key question should not only be:
“Where will we build recycling plants?”
A more useful question is:
“How many functional years of device life are we protecting and how safely are we capturing value at each rung of the ladder?”
That shift in thinking changes everything.