GENEVA, — Together with the Global Digital Solidarity Fund, HP will contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to a new project that will assess how five African nations deal with e-waste, and then develop methods to improve recycling and reuse tailored to each country's needs.

The project, announced yesterday, will focus on ways to help individuals recycle the often valuable materials in electronics, such as gold and copper, while limiting exposure to the toxic substances that are a part of computer manufacturing today, like lead and mercury.

Although HP did not disclose the exact amount to which it will be funding the project, Kirstie McIntyre, the company's environmental take-back compliance manager, told CNet News that it would amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

McIntrye said the company's goal is to determine how the recycling process works in these countries, often in informal and unregulated ways, and then to develop a blueprint for e-waste management in Africa that will improve the process for the environment and human health.

The process begins in South Africa, and then will expand to Morocco, Kenya, Tunisia and Senegal. One of the other partners in the project, the Swiss research institute EMPA, has been working in South Africa on e-waste issues for some time.