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From Problem to Profit: Rewiring the E-Waste Value Chain in Africa
Africa is home to bountiful reserves of metals and minerals, but these resources have not unleashed widespread economic growth. However, as Anne Cathrine Garde and Blessing Layee-Maima Caine at the BESTSELLER Foundation explain, an “urban mine” is quietly growing on the continent, in the form of discarded electronic devices loaded with precious metals. They discuss how trailblazing trash entrepreneurs are tapping the riches sitting in Africa's overflowing landfills, and turning this problem into profit by rewiring the broken e-waste value chain.
- Categories
- Technology, WASH
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Analysis: The Case of the Underperforming Circular Economy
Progress resides through the decidedly less-glamorous earthbound work of business process improvements, negotiations among buyers and sellers, and internal business teams needing to resolve highly complex technical issues. These efforts are essential to building more empowering business cultures through intra-organizational and cross-value-chain networks.
- Categories
- Uncategorized
- Region
- Global
- Tags
- circular economy, scale
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The Japan International Cooperation Agency Invests $2.5 Million In Fly-based Sanitation Startup in Nairobi
The Japan International Cooperation Agency has invested $2.5 million in a U.S. startup in Nairobi that uses flies to process biowaste in an initiative to help address the city's growing sanitation needs.
- Categories
- Environment
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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US Developer Lands $1.75 Million Deal for Nigerian Mini-Grids
Former start-up Husk, which originally based its business on renewables powered by rice industry waste products, has agreed to develop seven solar-plus-storage mini-grids across rural communities in Nasarawa state.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Curbing Deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Why Woodfuel Alternatives Are a Key Sustainable Solution
Deforestation is rampant in sub-Saharan Africa – the only region where the pace of forest loss has increased in each of the last three decades. According to Ian Otula and Aaron Pattillo of Vuma Biofuels and Wassa N’Gandjo Cisse of the BESTSELLER Foundation, the root cause of this crisis is the fact that woodfuels provide over 80% of the region's energy, and there's an alarming imbalance between supply and demand. They explore how woodfuel substitutes can offer a solution to this issue – and how Vuma Biofuels is leveraging these sustainable fuel sources to address a key driver of deforestation in Kenya: the tea industry.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
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Three Reasons Why Zero Waste is Essential to a Green, Fair Economic Recovery from COVID-19
The global waste problem is tremendous — the amount of plastic the world produces is set to quadruple in the next 30 years, and yet we’ve only been able to recycle 9% of existing plastic. But according to Claire Arkin of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, there are solutions. She explores the multiple benefits of a waste management approach that prioritizes waste reduction and material recovery, lays out three reasons why this zero-waste model is key to producing jobs and building healthy economies, and highlights some businesses that are working toward this goal.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Environment
- Tags
- circular economy, COVID-19, recycling, waste
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Kenya: This Entrepreneur’s Business Manufactures an Alternative to Firewood
BrightGreen Renewable Energy Limited company produces fuel briquettes from upcycled farm waste, or biomass in Kenya.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Trash Talk: Why the Circular Economy Could be Sub-Saharan Africa’s Latest Leapfrog Industry
From mobile banking to off-grid energy, sub-Saharan Africa has shown a tendency to leapfrog the rest of the world in establishing widespread access to digital infrastructure and new technologies. Tine Fisker Henriksen at BESTSELLER Foundation explores how the continent is making similar strides in the circular economy. She shares how enterprises across the region are taking innovative approaches to waste management, developing groundbreaking approaches to waste collection and recycling – while also supporting the often-informal workers who power the industry.
- Categories
- Technology, WASH
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