The Internet Society of Zimbabwe is a brave organization. They are requiring something that will make them out of favor with lots of. The Internet Society, Zimbabwe Chapter is requiring an extra tax on all device imports – an electronic waste tax.
The reasoning behind the call for the tax is strong. They argue that Africa is a discarding ground for electronic waste. How? We are importing excessive pre-owned equipment, so we are getting equipment near its use-by-date.
This indicates as Africans, we need to bear the cost of dealing with said equipment. The very same argument was made concerning vehicles, resulting in a restriction on 10-year-old vehicles.
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We are purchasing this old equipment that has a couple of years of usage, and yet we do not have the requisite recycling or disposal facilities to handle it when the time comes. This results in old gizmos filling garbage dumps.
This waste then pollutes our water bodies and underground water sources.
The West, where we get the equipment from gets to prevent this issue of e-waste, a little, with each lots of pre-owned gizmos they deliver to Africa.
What the Internet Society is requiring is an e-waste tax. It would be gathered on the import of electronic gizmos, whether they are brand-new or not.
They desire it styled like carbon tax, where in Zimbabwe, drivers need to pay 3 cents for every single litre of fuel they purchase. Those funds are then utilized to counter the negative impacts gas has on our environment.
With the e-waste tax, funds so gathered will then be utilized to establish a recycling plant in Zimbabwe. Proper e-waste management centres. The low-cost, pre-owned equipment we purchase will then wind up there, and not in our water.
Good concept however…
To me, this all noises good however I have issues. Firstly, I am acutely knowledgeable about the power of the mobile phone in specific. It opens a lot of doors for the impoverished, providing access to monetary services among other things.
Now, any tax that contributes to the cost of obtaining those gizmos would suggest slowing the adoption of those gizmos. In completion, the e-waste tax would help expand the digital divide.
The very same uses to other non-smartphone gizmos whose cost would boost with the tax. However low the increase in cost.
Then comes the concern that the funds gathered will not even wind up going towards a recycling plant. Our federal government does not have a good performance history, we have actually seen a lot of civil servant discover methods to proper funds suggested for public usage.
The last of my concerns is that it does not appear we in fact have the ways to gather e-waste to require to the recycling plant, even if it was developed.
Right now we have animal bottles and pizza boxes scattered around our cities. City councils, EMA, the federal government, and whoever else is to blame, is not up to the task.
How then will the e-waste go to the recycling plant our tax money would have moneyed? I don’t understand. There might be reforms however I’m not holding my breath.
The Internet Society revealed that they are lobbying for this tax at the just recently held Transform Africa Summit in Victoria Falls.
The Internet Society knows these obstacles. They have actually been performing research study on e-waste for a long time and we will discover precisely what they discovered in due time. For now, you can discover more on their thinking on this matter in the short article connected listed below:
What do you believe though? Would you be in support of such an e-waste tax? Would it have the desired impact? Let us know in the comments section listed below.
