The University of São Paulo has opened Brazil's first government-run center for recycling electronic waste. “We are going to separate and re-sell to industry different types of heavy and precious metals,” professor Tereza Carvalho, coordinator of the project, told Tierramérica. “We will begin by collecting units in the university and then in the community.”

The principal goal is to prevent cancer-causing substances – like lead and mercury – from entering the environment and to generate income for the project itself.

Setting up the center and purchasing appropriate equipment will cost about 84,000 dollars. The project expects to process 500 units of electronic equipment per month.

E-waste is on the rise in Brazil, where there are more than 50 million computers and 120 million cellular phones, and ongoing stimulus of consumption of the latest models.