That old – or simply used – computer, television, microwave oven, mobile phone, printer or blender you are preparing to discard is tantamount to throwing money down the drain.
Worse than that, the lead, mercury and other harmful chemicals these pieces of equipment contain have been found to be harmful to the environment and human health.
Many Barbadians are unaware that for the past five years the island has been home to a company dedicated to recycling such electronic waste (e-waste), an entity that is preparing to expand its operations, thereby earning Barbados increased foreign exchange.
Caribbean E. Waste Management Inc.’s, managing director Malikca Cummings told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that she remained undaunted and confident of success despite a series of setbacks since starting the business in 2008.
First there was no payment after shipping her first 40 foot container of recycled material overseas when she started in 2008. Then she only recouped shipping costs on the second container export. This was followed by four crippling burglaries in 2011 that forced her to seek temporary alternative employment before restarting her pioneering effort in April 2012.
The entrepreneur who started the operation after losing her job as an assistant manager at another local recycling company, acknowledged that the potential monetary rewards were motivating. But Cummings said her greater inspiration came from the fact that her effort, that of her three permanent employees, three temporary workers and five-member advisory board was to help Barbados environmentally .
“When you dump or dispose of e-waste in the landfill it does not disintegrate or degrade, and it also goes through a process where all of these chemicals leak into ground and then into the water system and from the water system . . . it comes right back to us,” she noted.
“Upon my research and finding out that information and all of the different problems that you can get from being exposed to that kind of thing, for instance kidney problems, brain damage, cancer I said, ‘Well, this is something I would like to do’ because I like to help people and also I wanted to create employment for myself.
“When I looked around [in Barbados] everybody was doing plastic . . . paper . . . metals. I looked around the Caribbean and nobody basically was doing e-waste so I said this was a good venture to go in,” she added.
Cummings is thankful for the financial assistance and business training she received from the Barbados Youth Business Trust as well as the support of organisations, including the Solid Waste Management Unit, Environmental Protection Department, Sanitation Service Authority, Sustainable Barbados Recycling Centre, and the Future Centre Trust.
Having located “a reputable customer” in the United States who is paying for all of her recycled material that now amounts to a 40 foot container shipped every two months, Cummings said expansion was now her primary focus.
She was therefore aiming to pay Barbadians for their old electronic equipment, expanding into the Caribbean, having registered the company in Grenada and already established a relationship in Trinidad, increased overseas shipments.
“Where Barbados is concerned, we are trying to acquire funds and investment to further develop and maximise the Barbados market to its fullest because right now Barbados is not fully maximised. We are working on acquiring a warehouse and setting it up how it is supposed to be set up and then we are going hitting the ground and running with speed in terms of making the public aware of this particular type of waste more aggressively,” she said.
“Right now we cannot afford to purchase the waste because of financial constraints, much of what comes in basically has to go back into the business, but in the near future we are looking to purchase waste because to be competitive and to be sustainable we have to find ways for the waste to come to us.”
While she does not now anticipate an easy journey after previous challenges, Cummings said she was in it for the long haul.
“It’s like something was thrust on me. There were a lot of times I wanted to quit. I asked myself, ‘Why am I doing what I am doing?’, but I can’t shake it. I love to do what I am doing. It’s challenging, yes, and anything that you are pioneering in is going to be challenging. If you want to get rich quick you are not going to stick with it, you are going to give it up.”