University and local recyclable material cooperative – building bridges around e-waste

2.1 Visit the cooperative of recyclable material collectors

From our experience, the dialogical approach is the top secret for successful activities and partnerships with local communities, especially the most vulnerable ones. That means the local community and university intrinsic knowledge are equally valued. In this way, we began by listening to the local community, and the activity was built based on their actual demands. The Acacia Cooperative, founded 20 years ago by a group of families living literally over the dumping ground, is the only cooperative of recyclable material collectors in the city of Araraquara in São Paulo State in Brazil and did not have a collection of e-waste in their portfolio. The cooperative comprises 200 collectors, where about 90 % of women are the head of the family and financially responsible for them. Their work is divided into four segments: selective collection of recyclable materials, sorting of them, processing of sorted material, and sale of processed material, as illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1:

Acacia cooperative of recyclable material collectors plant (left) and cooperates working at the separation and sorting materials.

We learned from our brainstorming meeting with the cooperated team that they collected e-waste and stored it to sell it as scrap for meager prices, and, eventually, unknown people would come and ask to separate some parts of the e-waste, usually the motherboards. The wires were burned to recover copper. Their main issue in e-waste storage was related to robbery (sometimes even by cooperative members) by alcohol and drug addicts. At that time, they did not know the environmental and health issues they were exposed to, and we traced a plan of action to fill these gaps as they were willing to collect e-waste continuously.

2.2 Drive-thru within the campus for e-waste collection

To begin the theoretical and practical course with the cooperative, it was necessary to collect, quantify and categorize e-waste for the purpose of teaching them about best practices in handling e-waste. To gather this material and engage the university community, a drive-thru day was proposed to collect e-waste at the campus. The university team comprised students (grad and undergrad), technical staff, and professors from different areas (Chemistry, Social Sciences and Electric Engineering). While the students were responsible for the drive-thru promotion on social media and printing banners for signalization, the university staff oversaw traffic authorizations, balances for weighing the e-waste, containers to storage it and so on. The e-waste collection drive-thru took place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the main entrance of the Institute of Chemistry, resulting in 470 kg of e-waste, composed mainly of six desktop computers, eighteen laptop computers, eighty cellphones, eight printers, seven router boards, nine CD/DVD drives, nine tablets, six photographic cameras, seventeen computer boards and other items in smaller quantities such as mouses, speakers, headsets, and microphones (Figure 2).

Figure 2:

Drive-thru day to collect e-waste at the campus.

2.3 Cooperative members’ theoretical and hands-on training on how to work with e-waste

The preparation for the course was divided into developing a printed material (handout) with the content of the PowerPoint slides, a booklet to be used daily during the e-waste sorting, and buying toolkits to properly and safely disassemble major components. Significant effort was made to use appropriate language in the technical materials. The goal was to make it simple and understandable for the collectors with deficient scholar backgrounds and, in some cases, almost functionally illiterate. All this material was developed under the guidance of our team’s electric and electronic waste specialist and responsible for the on-presence course.

From the cooperative part, they provided a locked area to store the e-waste they would deal with from now on (due to the robbery issues). This area was cleaned, adequately illuminated, and had a workbench and a set of 1500 kg bags to store the disabled e-waste.

The cooperative managers received the enrollment of 14 members interested in following the theoretical and practical course at the Acacia Cooperative plant. It was divided into two initial theory hours, 2 h of hands-on activity, and a coffee break (Figure 3). The entire course was filmed, and the edited file was made available for the Cooperative to revisit when necessary. The main goals of the short course were: (1) safety to avoid occupational accidents and the proper use of PPE (Personnel Protective Equipment) and screw toolkits, (2) recognition of the main parts of the electric and electronic waste, (3) hazardous substances encountered in e-waste and (4) pre-treatment techniques such as the mischaracterization of the e-waste and dismantling of specific components enough for sale. This physical separation consisted mainly of segregation into non-metal and metal classes before undergoing any further recycling process.

Figure 3:

Theoretical and hands-on training on how to work with e-waste.

The participation of the cooperative team was massive in terms of doubts, questions, comments, and personal storytelling during the course. Some were disappointed because they thought they would do gold and platinum mining and have these pure materials at the end of the day. The lack of awareness regarding the harmful impacts of toxic components was impressive. However, they were willing to follow the recommendations and safety guidelines after the course. It’s worth mentioning that the correct guidance regarding the handling, separation, and disposal of e-waste is crucial because, as presented by Song and Li (2015), the routes of contamination can be by inhalation of harmful gases, ingestion, or skin contact, from their occupation, due to direct or indirect exposure, through air, soil, water or food.

2.4 Problems solved, deliverables and results achieved

Some deliverables achieved within this outreach program are cited in Table 1. One of the main reasons prohibiting people from proper e-waste disposal is the lack of e-waste recycling facilities in their vicinity (Varghese and Sharma, 2022). To circumvent this issue, a VDP (Voluntary Delivery Points) for e-waste was created at the Institute of Chemistry and adequacy of the storage of recyclable materials. Community adherence is being measured by constructing the historical series of the volume of recyclable material and e-waste generated and collected at the Institute of Chemistry. Therefore, these materials are weighted weekly. We believe that the university community better understands their role as consumers and is more prompt to become good stewards of the environment. Not only the community was impacted but our students’ team as well. Students’ testimonials such as “The project itself is essential and operates in areas forgotten by students and the Araraquara community. Flores initiatives generate curiosity and encourage their members to reflect on disposal.” And “I highlight fantastic learning experiences about concepts that permeate the field of sustainability.” Highlight the importance of outreach activities complementing their formal academic training and encourage them to be actors mitigating the e-waste crisis.

From the cooperative of recyclable material collectors’ perspective, the training of cooperative members in working with e-waste opened a new line of work within the cooperative. It took a year until the first results were seen. In baby steps, they organize themselves to carry out the collection of e-waste autonomously and deal with it safely. The main challenge regarding the realization of this project was to reach out to the cooperative leaders and establish a bond of trust so they were interested in joining the project. Unfortunately, we learned that they are sought after by universities for collaborations but seldom receive feedback from them. Too often, it is a one-way “partnership.” It is an alert that everyone should keep in mind when developing an outreach project.

Promoting this outreach activity in local TV news, radio programs, and newspapers in the city and region increased the visibility of the university, provided a means for society to understand and value the university’s role, and strengthened ties with the community. It was an excellent opportunity to reinforce the importance of science as a knowledge producer and convert it into employment and profits, contributing to socio-economic development.