E waste Innovation through Social Enterprise

The advancement of technology in every aspect of our daily life has also brought negative externalities of the accumulating electronic waste or e-waste. Tretavathan and Sharp (2020) in their study introduce a Social Enterprise called Substation33, which has a mission to reduce the number of electronic wastes that end up in the landfill while also contributing to the community through capacity building programs. Substation33 operated in Southeast Queensland mainly as a recycling centre for e-waste, however their program also extends to mentoring and a medium for innovative ideas for sustainable living. By engaging with the local community, they have upcycled their local e-waste into affordable and sustainable devices that could help monitor the environmental quality of the area such as Road Flooded Safety Sign, Aquatic Environmental Monitoring System, eBikes, etc. This local social enterprise may become a model of small steps that other municipalities can adopt to reduce and manage the e-waste in their local areas.

Reference:

Trevathan, J., & Sharp, T. (2020). Up-cycling e-Waste into Innovative Products through Social Enterprise. In SMARTGREENS (pp. 185-193).

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