Growing levels of electronic waste in Kenya has prompted the country’s biggest mobile operator Safaricom to kick-start an e-waste programme.

The East African nation has witnessed surging levels of electronic gadget adoption, as the country’s mobile usage rate has topped 31.3 million connections while the number of internet users stands at 19.1 million, according to the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK).

And Safaricom plans to help Kenyans safely dispose of over 20,000 tonnes of e-waste in the country by setting aside collection points at its retail centres across the country.

This e-waste collection programme was announced by Safaricom’s corporate affairs director, Nzioka Waita, while he was launching a caravan in Kisumu city that is expected see the electronic waste in the town collected for safe disposal.

“Electronic devices have many toxic components,” said Waita.

“An example is a mobile phone that can contain 500 to 1000 different toxic materials that are harmful to the environment if not disposed properly.

“These metals are highly toxic and can harm children even at very low levels of exposure. It is therefore important that we take early action to mitigate against any environment and health problem that may be caused by exposure to electronic waste,” he added.

Safaricom said it had already collected 40 tonnes of electronic waste in the country’s capital, Nairobi, alone, where there is the highest number of electronic devices users.

The high rate of electronic devices turning into e-waste has been attributed to ‘cheap’ and counterfeit materials that are being imported into the country, with mobile phones being top on the list.

Safaricom did not; however, specify how it intends to dispose off the waste materials collected at its retail outlets.

Safaricom is Kenya’s largest mobile operator with over 17 million connections.