Opinion: Lessons from Africa’s first licensed e-waste smelter

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The circular economy needs to move beyond waste collection and pilot projects towards industrial processing capacity, argues Joost de Kluijver of Closing the Loop. Drawing on the company’s experience developing an e-waste processing facility in Lagos, he says lasting circularity will require infrastructure, investment and industrial capability.

• Mr Kluijver is the CEO and founder of Closing the Loop, a Dutch “for-profit, for-impact” company that has established electronic waste collection programmes across Africa and Asia since 2012. The company is currently partnering with UN entities, the technology sector, investors, and European and African governments to develop Africa’s first dedicated facility for turning electronic waste into metals in Nigeria.

• “The question is no longer whether Africa produces enough e-waste to justify serious processing infrastructure,” he says. “The question is whether businesses, governments and (development) investors are prepared to stop funding circularity as a series of projects — and start building it as an industry.”

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