Nigerian company turns e-waste into solar-powered lanterns

An employee inserts lithium-ion cells from old laptop battery packs into a solar lantern at the Quadloop recycling facility in Lagos, Nigeria. Source: Reuters/Temilade Adelaja

Dozie Igweilo, founder of Quadloop, told Reuters he came up with the idea after discovering a market for affordable, locally-produced electrical goods, for which components were not available in the country.

"At that point, we noticed that... if we leverage on electronic waste, we are going to cut down the cost of production as well as the cost of sales, and that is what brought us to where we are today," Igweilo said.

The company aims to source 70% of its materials from electronic waste. Quadloop recycles lithium batteries from dumped old laptops for its solar lanterns. Those lanterns are then used by small businesses helping them to stay productive if there are power outages, Igweilo said.

One of Quadloop's clients is Blessing Samuel, who works as a hairdresser and uses its solar lantern at night. "It's very good, it has been helpful to me since I got it, it helps me when there's no light. I use it to do my work and it relieved me of the stress of buying fuel," she told Reuters.