E-wastes management in Developing countries

[Atiemo Sampson]

One of the key policy tools for managing e-wastes is the concept of extended producer responsibility. In most legislations, producers (importers and/or manufacturers) are called upon to set up collection centers for consumers to bring back their e-wastes often for free. However in developing countries over 90% of e-wastes generated is collected by the informal sector players. From this scenario is it still necessary to require producers to set up collection centers or it's time to rethink the whole concept and re-channel producer responsibilities elsewhere.

[Pratima Pandey]

Hi...Producer responsibility need to legally imposed...but will that be sufficient in developing countries? Here the level of eco-awareness and responsibility is low, so how can the consumers be made to go to deposit their e-waste, even if it is free?

What does "...re-channeling producer responsibility elsewhere" mean?

Thanks for initiating an important discussion...

[Atiemo Sampson]

Hi

re-channelling producer responsibility elsewhere means instead asking producers to set up collection centres and giving them collection targets, we can look at other issues within the value chain where investment is most needed and tangible environmental benefits will accrue.

[Ankita Jena]

I think re channeling might not be the best possible option.. Instead integration of informal sector into the clean channel should be worked out. Focus should how the strong informal networks be used to channel the ewaste into the value chain. Models need to created and here producers can play key role.

[Sarah OBrien]

Great question Atiemo - the issue is that the informal sector collection efforts often end with large amounts of material treated in crude, hazardous ways that harm recycling workers and the environment. So while  many developing world countries have great collection, the efforts with EPR have to focus on in some ways a much more challenging goal - how to get the informal sector to deliver waste materials into the formal recycling sector.This is critically important for worker and environmental protection from exposure to toxic materials - but also more broadly important to the environment because of the many scarce resources that cannot be recaptured using mechanical methods but have to be extracted through sophisticated  chemical/metallurgical processes.

[Atiemo Sampson]

Hi Sarah, 

Thanks for your wonderful comment. A survey of some e-wastes related legislations in developing countries in Asia and Africa revealed that although collection wise, the informal sector is achieving a near 100% rate, the legislations often require producers to set up their own collection centers. As you rightly pointed out, the challenge is not the collection but how to channel the collected wastes into a formal recycling system. For me we need to undertake a thorough impact assessment of the each stage of the value chain and see where attention is most needed. How do we incentivise the informal sector so that they can deliver the collected waste to a formal recycling chain should be the option for developing countries. This is where I think future EPR based legislations should focus on.

 

[Sarah OBrien]

I agree wholeheartedly, Atiemo, and I know there have a been a number of initiatives designed to address that exact question in India. Nokia has been working with micro-repair shops to deliver waste materials from repaired or unrepairable phones to responsible recycling, Sims and Toxics Link I think had a partnership in Mumbai (Bangalore?) to help informal collectors deliver into formal systems, and so on. It is hugely challenging to understand how to establish (and monitor and adjust) incentives to really work effectively to shift waste into the formal recycling sector. From what I have heard it is highly challenging - even with financial incentives that pay the same or more than informal channels, waste collectors tend to do what they are used to and comfortable with instead of adapting to new practices.But vitally important to focus efforts on this critical area.