UNEP-IETC: WEEE/E-waste Management Workshop on Take-Back System in Osaka, Japan, on 13-15 July 2011


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United Nations Environment Programme
Division of Technology, Industry and Economics

WEEE/E-waste Management Workshop on Take-Back System in Osaka, Japan, on 13-15 July 2011

Background

It is projected that 3 billion electrical and electronic equipment will become Waste Electrical Electronic Equipment (WEEE) /E-waste by 2010 (average WEEE/E-waste generation rate of 400 million units a year till 2010). Globally, about 20 to 50 million metric tons of WEEE/E-waste is disposed each year, which is 5% of all municipal solid waste (Basel Convention). Considering 3 percent WEEE/E-waste growth rate in developed countries and 8.8 percent growth rate as per market scenario, the two expected WEEE/E-waste generation scenarios shows that it will reach 40 to 70 million tons per year by 2015. Rapid increase in WEEE/E-waste is creating major risks for public health and environment. All the stakeholders, including consumers, producers and governments are trying to develop policies and management systems to handle WEEE/E-waste.

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) through International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) is also focusing on WEEE/E-waste management under its waste management programme. In this context, two manuals, (1) WEEE/E-waste Inventory Assessment Manual, and (2) WEEE/E-waste Management Manual, have been prepared and pilot tested in Asia. In order to support development of policy framework and capacity building on WEEE/E-waste at national and local level, a training workshop on WEEE/E-waste management was held in Osaka, Japan on 6-9 July 2010. This workshop was attended by national governments, international organizations, private sector and civil society. The outcome of the workshop identified a need to build the capacity and policy framework on WEEE/E-waste “take back” system and financial mechanism to sustain this system. In this context, a third manual on WEEE/E-waste take-back system has been developed in continuation to the series of manual 1 and 2.

To build the capacity at national and local level, and to discuss the policy framework including financial mechanism for WEEE/E-waste take-back system, UNEP is organizing the 2nd workshop on WEEE/E-waste management focusing on the take-back system. The objectives of this workshop are:

To provide training on developing WEEE/E-waste take-back system including policy framework and financial mechanism;
To discuss the challenges in WEEE/E-waste take-back system with various stakeholders and share expertise and experiences;
To discuss the possibility of pilot projects in different cities/countries through local and international support.

This activity is part of the Global Partnership on Waste Management (GPWM).

Please refer to the sections below for information related to the workshop.

1. Agenda