"Waste from solar energy products an environment hazard - experts", 11 October 2020

Olivier Mbera, the General Manager of EnviroServe Rwanda, a public-private partnership e-waste recycling facility in Bugesera District said that if not well disposed, solar product waste could endanger human health. “The solar product waste has heavy metals that affect crops and poison food which can lead to cancer through food consumption. The solar sector can't be green when we do not dispose of and recycle waste that comes from it,” he said. He explained that the facility collected 300 tonnes of waste from solar products, just in 2019 and this could increase to 400 tonnes in 2020...Even though we collect 300 tonnes of solar product waste, there are an estimated other 300 solar products waste that remain uncollected and end up intoxicating the environment," he said...

Solar companies say that the disposal cost is hampering the efforts to collect and supply the waste to recycling companies. “We have about one tonne of solar products waste but the problem is that we have to transport this to recycling companies at our own cost and we are charged about Rwf500 per kilogramme of lithium batteries and Rwf150 per kilogramme of other solar product waste. We need incentives to reduce such disposal cost to motivate us to take the waste to recycling plants,” said Salim Mbarushimana, The Distribution Director at Ignite Power...

Fred Mbonera, the Sales and marketing manager with Elerai Global Service said they have a container of solar products dumped but disposal cost remains prohibitive. “It is costly for us to go in rural areas where we distribute products and collect those that become waste then transport them to recycling companies at our cost and even be charged disposal cost. We need incentives,” he said...

...EnviroServe Rwanda signed a partnership agreement with Energy Private Developers (EPD), an association bringing together all private companies operating in the energy sector in Rwanda to form a framework that will ease disposal of solar energy waste...