Turning electronic trash into treasure
By Milliam.Murigi, April 19, 2022Batteries power today’s portable electronic gadgets, such as cellphones, small electronics, laptops, and numerous household appliances, among others.
These portable, versatile power sources feature significantly in making technology accessible. Billions of batteries are purchased every year according to statistics.
Battery materials pose no threat to human health when in use, but when discarded improperly, the devices have dangerous health and environmental consequences, because of the heavy metals they contain.
It is because of this problem individuals, and organisations have come out to offer recycling services to ensure that the cells don’t end up in landfills.
Paul Waweru, the Chief Executive Officer of Eco-power Company is one of those who have ventured into this business. “I have been recycling laptop batteries since 2020 to come up with portable power packs, as a result, I have also been able to offer a safe and environmentally responsible solution for end of life batteries,” says the Physics and Mathematics teacher at Mwihoko Secondary School in Ruiru, Kiambu County.
The company makes an array of portable power backup devices capable of powering small to large gadgets and appliances, such as phones, cameras, lights, electric bikes, music systems and television sets. “The idea of making portable power backup devices was born in 2019, because of the frequent power blackouts we used to experience in the Mwihoko area where I stay. I needed power independence since a power blackout meant less productivity for me. As a Physics teacher, I have the skills to make these products so I needed not to attend any training,” he explains.
How it all began
To make the devices, he needed battery cells. He started buying power banks from which he got the cells. Once the cells are freed from the device, he would then make his power bank. However, for the one year, he made the products, he never came up with an effective solution, which could hold the capacity he wanted. Also, the products were not long-lasting.
One day, his laptop got spoilt and after involving a professional to check what the problem was, he was advised to charge the battery.
As an innovator, he couldn’t just throw away the battery, he decided to check keenly and understand the physics behind it. This is when he came across six original lithium-ion cells.
In a typical battery, there are six pieces of 18,650 lithium-ion cells divided into groups of two. If the laptop battery no longer works, most probably it is usually just one group of cells that have died, and the other four are still perfect. But to know their health, one has to reliably test them all to make sure they work. “I came to realise, much later that the reason I never had a breakthrough before is that I was using fake lithium-ion batteries. No matter how many cells I used, I never achieved the required capacity,” he says.
After salvaging the cells, he then decided to do a quick voltage test using his testing station to determine the health of the cells. The test was positive, meaning, the cells were still in a usable state. After the test, he even decided to dig deeper to know what was wrong with the battery and this is when he realised that the problem was with the charging system and not the battery. “Realising that all the cells were healthy, I made a power bank using those cells and the results were promising. The product had enough capacity to charge several phones several times and it could last three times longer when compared with the available products in the market of the same capacity,” says the 31-year-old teacher.
Though this was a breakthrough in his innovation journey, another challenge came up. He didn’t know where to get those cells from.
However, after some months through a Facebook post, he connected with a certain electronic waste collector where he now gets his raw materials. Since then, he has never looked back. Today, he is among the few people who are making environmental friendly power backup devices in Kenya. “With my intervention, I have been able to protect our environment. I want to ensure that no laptop battery gets to landfills and can cause serious harm. Batteries, which are incinerated emit chemicals that harm the environment and buried batteries start to leak chemicals, which over the years, seep into nearby streams, lakes and groundwater. This is what I want to prevent,” he says.
His products whose prices range from Sh1,000 to Sh26,000 are effective and the cells are well arranged in readily available recycled plastic containers. Care is also taken to ensure that the electronic circuitry conforms to the general physics and engineering rules. The devices can be charged using conventional mains electricity or any other source of power, including solar energy.
He has also started recycling some other laptop parts, such as screens, which he uses to make light-emitting diode (LED) light, a webcam to make Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTVs) and a microphone module to make lapel-recording microphones.