Iliya Abba’s monitors, on the other hand, are all taken to Nigerian company Hinckley, a recycling company specialising in electronic waste. It is located at the other end of Lagos in the Lekki district, about 70 kilometres from Computer Village. ‘We receive devices that can no longer be repaired,’ says Israel Olagunju, who is responsible for research and production supervision.
Olagunju leads us through a large hall. First, all the devices are weighed and measured. The staff then place them on a long workbench situated between the entrance gates. There, four men dismantle the devices into component parts. They start by loosening the screws on the plastic casing. Little by little, the inner workings of the televisions and PC screens are revealed. They remove the circuit boards, speakers, cables, bulbs and metals. The parts are all placed on different piles. Here, everyone wears proper work clothes and gloves. For the two women who operate the shredder that crushes the plastic covers, protective goggles are also compulsory.
Mohammed Umar is part of the Hinckley team. He has been working for the company for five years. He dismantles televisions, monitors and speakers: ‘It’s all very quick,’ he says and points to the parts he has already dismantled today. Umar is happy to have this steady job. In Lagos, this is not something that can be taken for granted. But Mohammed Umar is sure that the recycling industry is a growing labour market.
His boss Olagunju stops and points to the acrylic glass that was once part of a television. This is also valuable, like the many other components of the monitors and televisions that go back into the raw material cycle. The Plexiglass has a very special future: some sheets have even been used to make casings for solar-powered lamps. This is a sustainable way to turn old scrap into new things – and it is all ‘made in Nigeria’.
