Because of a lack of knowledge, environmental regulation, and financial capital, e-waste management has become a significant challenge for many African countries. In Africa, e-waste is typically disposed of mainly by open dumping, burning, and landfilling, but due to the prevalence of heavy metals and toxic chemicals in electronics, these approaches have significant health and environmental repercussions. In 2016, the Rwandan government has promoted information and communications technology in rural areas through various programs such as the one laptop per child program and off-grid rural electrification, but at that point, there was no plan in place for what to do when these electronic and electrical devices reached the end of their useful lives.

Rwanda is one of the few countries in Africa with an electronic waste policy and legislation, as well as the second in Africa with an e-waste dismantling and recycling facility. Through a public-private partnership arrangement with the Rwandan government, an e-waste recycling facility was constructed in the country's eastern region and is now owned and operated by the private sector company EnviroServe Rwanda Green Park. EnviroServe Rwanda has several drop-off locations around the country where people can drop off their unwanted electronic products, which then get collected and transferred to the facility, where they get repaired and recycled to be used later or dismantled into still valuable parts.

This initiative has brought many benefits to the country, and to date, EnviroServe Rwanda has achieved the following: 

• 413 green jobs

• 5,430 computers refurbished and re-used in school,

• 2,778 tons of e-waste collected,

• 2,500 tons of e-waste dismantled,

• 550 tons of solar e-waste collected,

• 1,648 tons of CO2 emissions mitigated.