Dive Brief:
- An inventor in Togo, West Africa created a functional 3-D printer from discarded consumer electronics.
- The purpose of the machine is to open up the playing field to anyone, allowing people with basic tech skills to build their own printer from the large amounts of e-waste sitting un-used.
- The printer, called the W.Afate, is comprised of many different components: a tower case from a PC, various printer and scanner motors and a PC power supply.
Dive Insight:
The lab that the project was devised in, Woelab, creates items that match the region's issues with solutions. In this case, a massive supply of e-waste and low income is addressed with the 3D printer, which costs hundreds less to make than a retail model and uses post-consumer waste in the process.
There is a growing need to safely reduce the amount of electronic waste disposed of in emerging markets such as Africa. According to ISRI, one of the issues facing these countries is a lack of infrastructure, but the adoption of flexible regulations can be a facilitator in employment opportunities in countries like Africa.