Open Forum #59 Towards a Greener Future with E-Waste Management

Summary

This discussion focused on the global challenge of e-waste management and potential solutions. The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) presented their initiative to develop a framework for addressing e-waste issues, emphasizing the need for collaboration between governments, businesses, and individuals. Key points included the rapid growth of e-waste, with projections showing it will more than double by 2030, and the low global recycling rate of only 20%.

Participants highlighted several barriers to effective e-waste management, including lack of consumer awareness, data privacy concerns, and the complexity of the supply chain. The importance of collection systems, consumer education, and achieving economies of scale in recycling were stressed. The discussion also explored the potential for reusing and redeploying electronics to bridge the digital divide in underserved communities.

Cross-border collaboration was identified as crucial for addressing e-waste challenges, particularly for smaller countries with limited resources. Participants discussed various initiatives, such as government-led collection programs and partnerships with the informal sector. The need for better data collection and standardized metrics for measuring e-waste was emphasized.

The DCO presented a framework for governments, focusing on regulation and policies, financial instruments, awareness and capability building, and infrastructure development. The discussion concluded with a call to action for all stakeholders to take responsibility and contribute to creating a more sustainable digital economy.

Keypoints

Major discussion points:

– The growing problem of e-waste and its environmental/economic impacts

– Challenges around e-waste collection, consumer awareness, and data privacy concerns

– Potential for reusing and recycling e-waste to bridge the digital divide

– Need for collaboration between governments, private sector, and NGOs to address e-waste

– Developing policies, infrastructure, and economic incentives for e-waste management

The overall purpose of the discussion was to raise awareness about the e-waste challenge, gather input from diverse stakeholders on potential solutions, and promote collaboration to develop more effective e-waste management practices globally.

The tone of the discussion was informative and collaborative. It started out more formal with presentations on the e-waste issue, but became more interactive and participatory as attendees were encouraged to share their perspectives and ideas. There was an emphasis on collective responsibility and finding practical solutions together.

Speakers

– Alaa Abdulaal: Representative from the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO)

– Syed Iftikhar: Representative from DCO

– Arianna Molino: Sustainability specialist at Kearney, collaborating with DCO

– Mohamed Mashaka: From United Republic of Tanzania

– Ayman Arbiyat: From Jordan

Additional speakers:

– Noia: From Tuvalu (Pacific island country)

– Dr. Nagwa: From the Academy in Egypt

– Abdul Aziz: From CST (KSA regulator), mentioned but did not speak directly

E-Waste Management: Global Challenges and Collaborative Solutions

Introduction

The Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO) hosted a discussion on the critical global challenge of e-waste management, bringing together representatives from various countries and organizations. The interactive dialogue, which included audience participation through Slido polls, focused on the rapid growth of e-waste, projected to reach 74 million tons by 2030, and the current low global recycling rate of only 20%. Participants examined barriers to effective e-waste management and explored potential solutions, emphasizing the need for collaboration between governments, businesses, and individuals.

Key Challenges in E-Waste Management

1. Growing Environmental and Health Risks

Speakers, including Alaa Abdulaal from DCO and Arianna Molino from Kearney, highlighted the increasing volume of e-waste and its negative impacts on the environment and human health. E-waste was identified as a significant contributor to climate change and pollution.

2. Lack of Consumer Awareness

Mohamed Mashaka from Tanzania emphasized the critical issue of public awareness, noting that many citizens are unaware of the impact of e-waste on various initiatives. This lack of awareness was identified as a major barrier to proper e-waste disposal and management.

3. Data Privacy Concerns

Ayman Arbiyat from Jordan raised the issue of data privacy concerns when disposing of electronic devices, recognized as a significant obstacle preventing individuals from properly recycling their e-waste.

4. Complexity of Supply Chains

Arianna Molino highlighted the complexity of e-waste supply chains as a major challenge, based on participant responses. This complexity makes it difficult to track and manage e-waste effectively throughout its lifecycle.

5. Unique Challenges for Small Island Nations

An audience member from Tuvalu brought attention to the specific challenges faced by small island nations due to their geographical isolation, emphasizing the need for tailored solutions in different contexts.

Proposed Solutions and Strategies

1. Comprehensive E-Waste Strategies

Mohamed Mashaka called for the development of comprehensive e-waste strategies and guidelines to address the multifaceted nature of the problem.

2. Improved Data Collection and Measurement

Dr. Nagwa from Egypt highlighted the importance of accurate data collection and measurement in e-waste management, recognizing its critical role in effective policy-making and understanding complex e-waste supply chains.

3. Promoting Reuse and Repair

Arianna Molino advocated for promoting the reuse and repair of electronic devices to extend their lifespans and reduce e-waste generation. Audience members raised concerns about the quality and reliability of refurbished electronics.

4. Leveraging Technology and AI

An audience member suggested exploring the use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to support e-waste management.

5. Multi-stakeholder Collaboration

Speakers emphasized the importance of collaboration between governments, the private sector, and NGOs to address e-waste challenges effectively. The need for cross-border and regional collaboration was also highlighted.

6. Policy and Regulatory Frameworks

Participants discussed the need for e-waste-specific regulations and standards, including extended producer responsibility policies and financial incentives for proper e-waste management. The importance of harmonizing cross-border e-waste regulations was noted.

7. Consumer Education and Awareness Campaigns

Multiple speakers stressed the need for increased consumer awareness and education to address concerns and promote proper e-waste disposal.

8. Cross-border Initiatives

The discussion included potential initiatives for global e-waste management, such as global regulation and responsible recycling certification.

The Role of the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO)

The DCO presented a framework for governments focusing on four key components:

1. Regulation and policies

2. Financial instruments

3. Awareness and capability building

4. Infrastructure development

This framework aims to guide governments in developing comprehensive strategies to address e-waste management challenges. The DCO emphasized its role in facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing among member states to tackle the global e-waste problem.

Specific E-Waste Management Initiatives

Participants shared examples of ongoing e-waste management efforts, including:

– The KSA government working with the social sector to collect devices and ensure privacy

– Tanzania’s efforts to develop comprehensive e-waste guidelines

Closing Remarks

Alaa Abdulaal and Syed Iftikhar from DCO concluded the discussion by emphasizing the importance of collective action in addressing the e-waste challenge. They encouraged participants to take personal responsibility for proper e-waste disposal and to contribute to creating a more sustainable digital economy. The speakers reiterated the DCO’s commitment to supporting member states in developing effective e-waste management strategies and fostering international collaboration on this critical issue.

Alaa Abdulaal: issue. As the digital economy continues to grow, connecting billions of people, it also has oppressing environmental consequences of this progress. The rapid growth of e-waste is really becoming more and more, with more consumers of electronics and mobile phones and home devices. All of this leaving us with this challenge that we want to tackle and we really need to look at it as a shared responsibility, not only by government but by individuals, by ourselves. It is the responsibility upon everyone in this room and even listening to us to take this challenge and really think about it. Because imagine that there is a lot of e-waste that is not being recycled. Look at the lost opportunity, not only from an economic perspective but also from an environmental aspect. There is a lost opportunity here of all of this e-waste not being recycled and having those devices reaching to places where there is a need for it. We are also now facing a challenge of affordability of devices. So why not seize this opportunity and look at this e-waste and see how it can be recycled, how it can be managed. And again, as I said, it’s not a government responsibility or a private sector responsibility. I believe it’s a shared responsibility on each individual. We are the ones who are consuming those electronics, those mobiles, those devices. What are we doing with them? If I ask to raise hand, how many devices do we have more than one in the room? Who has more than one device in the room? Yeah, a majority of the room is raising their hand. What did you do with your old devices? How many times are you buying new devices? So it’s just to think about this. And for us as the digital cooperation organization, because we are looking at how to have that inclusive and sustainable growth of the digital economy, we saw that this is an opportunity for us to gather stakeholders and to look at this challenge and see what we can do. And specifically from a cross-border e-waste management. Because DCO is really committed to this mission. And through our e-waste management program initiative, we aim to foster circular economy in the ICT sector, advance cross-border solution and leverage technology to mitigate environmental harm. And today in this workshop, we want to share our work and we want to hear from you and to give us insights on what we are doing. Because we believe in a multi-stakeholder approach. We believe in learning from other and listening from experts like the one in the room. And for us to have that comprehensive solution. Because again, we as DCO, we really believe that we want to give a fair opportunity for each person, each nation, each business to prosper in a cross-border inclusive digital economy. So thank you, everyone, for being here today. And looking forward to hear from you to be engaged in this interactive workshop. I want to give the floor to my colleague,

Syed Iftikhar: Dr. Sayed Iftikhar, to have his word. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Salah, for giving more insight about DCO and particularly the e-waste management initiatives. So basically, first of all, I give some introduction about the DCO more in detail because DCO is established in November 2020 and we are aggressively working on different aspects. So DCO is a unique, multilateral, intergovernmental organization. And considering to support the stakeholders, particularly the government businesses and the individuals, for emerging areas, particularly in terms of digital economy. So one of the challenges is the sustainability. And we’re working, cooperating with our member states and countries of the world on how we tackle this challenge. So DCO, as per the structure, we have 16 member states. We also have observers, more than 40. These observers are from international organizations, private sectors, and NGOs as well. So we also have a partnership with international organizations like UN, World Economic Forum. So this is somehow our overall structure. So we have core functions. We are an information provider. We are educators. We are facilitators. So this is somehow the digital cooperation organization structure. As I said, we have 16 member states and we represent 800 million populations. And notably, the 70% of the population is youth. So as we have youth, and youth are more focused on the digital areas, particularly the digital devices. So that’s why we need to care about more on the sustainability aspect from environmental aspect, from the health aspects. Our member states have a GDP about USD 3.5 trillion. So you see on the screen first, you see a word DSA, Digital Space Accelerator. Basically, it’s a working group of think tank, researcher, policy makers, and individuals. And we gather this working group on different international forums. In this year, we also organized different roundtables. What exactly the objective of this DSA? DSA is to focus on what exactly the emerging issues in digital economy and how we solve these challenges. We keep all these stakeholders on board to discuss, to co-create the possible solution to tackle the emerging challenges in digital economy. And one of the challenges is sustainability. So why we keep this DSA program? Basically, it has impact. We want to create impactful solutions. Another, we want to present our organizations as a credible source of information. And we also want, because our name is more focused on the cooperation, we want to expand the cooperation as well. In this year, we have different topics, and one of the topics is on e-waste management, and particularly focus on the cross-border e-waste management. In 2024, DCO focused on sustainability, and from sustainability, we are focusing on e-waste management program. So this program, as I told you, the DCO is more focused to concentrate on to address these challenges through stakeholders. And how we manage this challenge? So there are different ways. One of the things is we want to reduce this e-waste, number one. Second is that we want to leverage the economic value of the e-waste. And definitely, we also focus on the digital inclusions. So the scope of this project is mainly to analyze the best practices and to utilize these practices to tackle the challenge of e-waste. And the second major objective is to co-create the framework, holistic framework. It covers all aspects, regulatory aspects, capacity building aspects, financial dimensions, and how we promote the digital inclusion. So this is also one of the key scope of this project. So I stop here. I invite our experts, Ari, to give you more insight about the detailed projects. Thank

Arianna Molino: you. Ari, please. Hello, everyone. Nice to meet you. I’m Arianna Molino. I’m a sustainability specialist at Kearney. And I’m helping and collaborating with the DCO on this, I think, very passionate and very interesting initiative. Because as also Ms. Ala was mentioning, it’s an urgent problem. We love technologies. I think we’re addicted to technologies. And our kids will definitely also use more and more of it. So if we want really to have a digital economy, we need to tackle these issues and making sure that it’s sustainable. So for the today’s session, what we would like to do, it’s really have an engagement with you, as mentioned, giving your expertise. And also I see I hope that from different parts of the world, it would be great to get your perspective. So on one side, we want to discuss the importance of e-waste in your countries or for your sector. The second objective would be to also try to link the environmental issues and the social benefits. Right? So how do you see the reuse of devices to tackle digital to bridge the digital divide? And then third, we believe in collaboration. I mean, it’s a little bit obvious because DCO is known for cooperation. But we really believe that you cannot do a work independent. It’s a complex ecosystem. If you start working and alone, you will definitely not reach economy of scales. Profitability is an issue. And so this is where we really encourage to have discussions and to understand your lesson learned. So through collaboration, what did you gain? And what did you learn? And also the challenges and how we can collaborate together. Miss Hala mentioned it’s national focus, but also cross-border. Because I think it would be great here in this forum, where it’s global, to understand if it’s possible to have collaboration between countries. Cross-border e-waste trade is under the Basel Convention. It’s regulated. And we definitely need to be responsible in how we trade e-waste. But also we believe that there is a lot of potential in order to leverage technologies and making sure that we don’t duplicate infrastructure around the world if we can work together to reach efficiency. So these are the main objectives. We wanted to have introduction, but I see that maybe we are a little bit too many. We will have a poll online, where we will start understanding from which country you are, from which also sector, et cetera. But I really encourage you, if you want to intervene, please do. Because really, we see that if you start talking to each other, at the end, it would be really amazing if you start bouncing ideas among you. We are here just to facilitate. But really, if you go out from this session with more energy and more hope for setting up a business or really scaling up your efforts in terms of policy, that would be amazing. I totally agree with Arianna. It is important. We are here to listen and hear from you. And without your interventions and feedback, this session will not be successful. So yes, I really encourage you to be interactive and share your insights with us. Yes. And of course, we have microphones. So we can also be a star with microphones and sending it around. So also to set up a little bit the agenda, after this brief introduction, we will talk about e-waste, probably you know already the basics. But just to remind us about the big numbers, the big pictures, to kind of phase out and understand what is the environmental impact, the social impact, but also the economic potential. And then looking into the value chain. Because we know that the issue is not just recycling, right? It’s like collection. It’s kind of sorting. It’s really taking the private sector together with the social sector and the informal one. Because we need to remember that at the end, each country is going through a certain level of involvement. So we really would like to see and discuss with you the value chain itself. Second part would be on digital divide and e-waste. I think we need to remind ourselves, but before recycling, we can reuse and redeploy, right? Because circular strategies, you need to close the loop early on. And it’s a great potential to use this in order to then create a new market, to give access to a potentially part of the global economy. Part of the population that cannot buy a new iPhone every two years, right? So we’ll talk a little bit about that. And finally, cross-border and the national collaboration. Here would be great. We will see if maybe we can split into groups or if we have enough energy. We can also see among you if you want to raise the hands in terms of potential ideas that you have grabbed or that you have also experienced and you are doing in your organization or country. So again, raise the hands if you want to intervene. I think everything is very valuable. So really, don’t shy away. So e-waste. This figure was already mentioned by Ms. Ala, but just to tell you about the growth, right? In 2010, it was estimated. Of course, there is no really precise data, but estimated $34 billion. This is projected to more than double in 20 years. So I’m not sure if you have kids or not, but I started to do the projection for my kids and was like, OK, if I don’t start to tackle it now, on one side, we will have plenty of waste, but also we will not have raw material. So I’m not sure if my kids will have a phone when it will be 30, 40. We can debate if it’s good or not for kids not to have phones, but in general, the growth is very, very scary. On the other side, you might say, OK, but if the recycling rates are going up, at least we are tackling it. Unfortunately, that is not really a good news because recycling rates are not going up as the e-waste is going up. So now, on average, in the world, we have almost 20% recycling rate. The ambition is to arrive to at least 60%, 80%. So just to clarify, we know that 100% definitely will not happen in five years, right? So the international organization are really trying to push their mission at least to 60% and 80%. And we will see what is the impact there. So if we then say, OK, why we are doing it? On one side, environment. If you do not recycle well, it’s not just that you pollute the air, the land, the soil, the water, but also there is risk for the well-being. So that is where you have the environmental impact that is affecting both the environment and the society. And here, there are estimates of 145 billion of CO2 emissions in the environment. Is it 50% of the global emission? No, but this really is contributing to it. And we have high potential to lower it down to making sure that we close the loop in this ICT sector. There are informal workers that are affected, 11 million. I want really to hear your opinion on informal sector, because talking with UNITAR and with different organizations, they will say, like, informal sector is great, because at the end, they are really embedded in the society. They are really working in different areas of the city. So they are not per se wrong, or you need really to dismantle it. But you need to help them to follow probably some compliance rule or any way to be careful of the environment and the people. So here, it was mainly the environmental impact. But then also, if we think about the social impact in terms of digital divide, and we try to close the loop early on, we really redeploy in just 1% of the smartphones. And we are like 5 billion smartphones in one year. 5 billion, right? Like, it’s just to let it sink. We can really help 50 million people, at least. So that is where we are in this forum. There is a lot of talks about bridging digital divide, how to bring internet in the rural areas, et cetera. And it is part of it. Another part is the device. Of course, if you have the device and you don’t have internet, I mean, you’re solving partially the issues. But in this workshop, it would be great to also get your opinion about this topic. Again, people are a little bit skeptical about it because they are saying, normally, you pretend it is a redeployed device and you send it to the south of the world. But in reality, it’s just e-waste, right? So also, how you make sure that you are doing this app cycle in the right way that touch the people in need. And then economy, because on one side, driven by the environment issues and the social causes, it’s important. But on the other side, I think it’s also great to remind us that we are talking about GDP impact. If you have more people affected in terms of health, they will go to the hospital. You have a cost on that. If you have impact on the soil, on long term, you will have also impact on agriculture, on your economy. If you have a climate change, you will have impact on the different disasters that we see now, where sometimes, especially if you have Islam or the different cities that are not set up for this climate disaster, you have a human impact and economic impact. So here in the Global E-Waste Monitor 2024, you can see an interesting calculation that at the moment, with this 20% recycling. rate, we are losing globally 37 billion. But as soon as we start recycling, we can have a net positive impact. Why? Because on one side you are creating a market. You’re creating economy activities. Then less people are healed. So less people go to the hospital and then have to pay for medical care. And then on the other side you have less impact on the environment. So less pollution and green gas emission. It is true that this type of concept relates more to government, right? Because at the end, the government is the one that will allocate funds for also the health care, funds for the environment, et cetera. So this is really to also arrive to government level and tell them, investing even more in the private sector, social sector doesn’t really stop into the e-waste management, but goes beyond at your national and global economy. So here we have done a couple of workshops. One in London last week, where we had more kind of private sectors and NGOs coming in and tell us their point of view on the policies and their challenges. We had also in Singapore and with also private sector and policymaker that we’re discussing how the e-waste is done in Malaysia and in Singapore. And finally, also here in Riyadh with the GCC countries where we focus mainly on kind of policies. And what we have identified are five main kind of best practices. On one side, collection system is important. We saw some countries that invested into recycling infrastructure, but they don’t have feedstock. So then you don’t have, you know, your economy will like profitability will not stand. So collection is important. Another point is if you want to, if you raise awareness with consumer, but don’t give them the access to recycle, to like bring the device, then, you know, like they are, okay, like you are telling me to do it, but I don’t know how to do it. So, you know, you lose the momentum. And so, yeah, the second one is consumer awareness. Once you have at least set up some access point, right? And as also Miss Hala was saying, consumer is also us. So I was also discussing with my colleagues that I’m not sure you, but I have a bag in my home with all the cables of the old phones, et cetera, that I, with this project, I started on saying, okay, where I have to put it, how, what is the impact, et cetera. But it’s not something that everybody knows. And especially the collection system, all this system will really change from Spain to Saudi, for example. Economy of scale. In a lot of countries, both private and public sector, told us that they want to do recycling facilities, but they don’t have enough feedstock to make it profitable. And that is where on one side, okay, if you increase the collection, most probably you will be kind of profitable. But on the other side, this is where you maybe need on one side to think broadly on collaboration and how potentially you can work with other countries or other part of municipality, et cetera, to then consolidate and making sure that you’re not setting up small facilities around the territory that no one is profitable, and then everybody needs to close or have subsidies, right? So economy of scale is important. Private sector. I think talking with the private sector, they really want to get involved. Of course, there are a lot of opinion about policies. Like, okay, this we need to change. This is about legacy technologies. It also has to be updated. This is too strict. This is too broad, of course. But I think what’s the key message that came from this workshop is that government alone cannot centralize, because e-waste is also spreading the territory. So you need to enable, but then the private sectors also have the appetite to come and then to build, you know, strong supply chain and value chain. And last but not least, regional collaborations. So here is where, you know, like, depending also on the regional policies and the regional relationship, you can really think on how I can work, for example, between Saudi Arabia and Oman to making sure that if I specialize on recycling on the one type of e-waste or one type of battery, then I will receive the feedstock, but then I don’t have to do the recycling of that type of material, because then I can collaborate and then I can send it there. So this exchange and this promotion of e-waste cross-border trade, I think it’s important. But also sharing lessons learned. Because there is no one system that fits all. First of all, we are very different in terms of society. Like doing some policies in Europe, it’s totally different doing policies in Ghana and doing policies here in Saudi Arabia, right? So this is where maybe collaborating between the GCC countries that can help saying, okay, what did you do that works? What did you do that didn’t work? So maybe can we try to test it together? Can I try to learn your governance, your policies, your EPR implementation? So this is really a call to action on collaboration. Now I will stop talking. Maybe before doing the Slido, I want just to open the floor for maybe reactions. I know that you need to be brave to be the first one talking, because everybody is like, as soon as I share, like someone wants, okay, perfect. We

Mohamed Mashaka: have a volunteer. Thank you. Hello, yes, my name is Mohamed Mashaka from the United Republic of Tanzania, which is an Eastern part, it’s an Eastern part, East African country back there. One of the areas that I think we are really facing as a challenge is the literacy to our citizens, because most of these citizens, they aren’t aware of the impact of this e-waste on different initiatives that they are doing. Maybe the issue is we are trying to look on the case studies whereby the countries have these strategies towards the e-waste, and probably the guidelines towards the safe usage of this ICT and all infrastructures so that they can be aware of that. So one of the biggest challenges that I’ve seen, which is actually coming across, is the literacy level of the people, and how effective we are really going to do it. So I think there is a need to have an e-waste strategy, and probably a guideline for the e-waste as well. And the awareness campaign that needs to go to the people, because as you have mentioned, we have the low-income people, the people who are actually in the informal sectors, they are the ones who are much more affected into this. So there is a need to increase much effort into it. So we really appreciate that. That’s the comment I wanted to add. Thank you. Thank you very much. Maybe we have someone that wants to…

Ayman Arbiyat : Hello. Good morning. My name is Ayman Arbiyat from Jordan. First of all, I am not an expert in e-waste, but I like the concept. So I would like to ask you about the best practices. In the last slide, please, because I have the same issue. I have some e-waste, but I don’t know where I can send it to any organisation, how we can collect what is the effective collection system. For the next best practice is about consumer awareness, and maybe I will raise some privacy concerns. Because, let’s see, when I talk to my wife or to my colleague, they say this phone has my photo, even if I delete it. But we still believe that this device still has many photos or many personal information, and for that we keep it in the home instead of recycling it. Thank you.

Audience: Anyone wants to… Yes. Okay. I wanted to say ladies first, but we are two ladies, so… Hello. My name is Noia. I’m from the small Pacific island country of Tuvalu. I… Very nice presentation. You know, the Pacific is very vulnerable to climate change, and you mentioned something about climate change and how e-waste contributes to solving all that. We have very unique challenges due to our geographic location and our isolation. We have very limited infrastructure and resources are constraints as well. My question is around the recycling and reprocessing. Are there any cost-effective recycling solutions suitable for small-scale and more decentralized systems in the Pacific? Also, can e-waste be repurposed or up-cycled locally to create some economic opportunities, in a way, because we are too far away from where the e-waste are processed and shipping is also a challenge for small Pacific Island countries. So reprocessing and up-cycle of those waste can be… We are looking at leveraging as an economic opportunity. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Dr. Nagwa. I’m from the Academy from Egypt. Actually, my question is related to if there is any intention in your organization to measure the e-waste, especially that what I noticed that all the figures presented are estimated figures and for globally. It’s worse, and it’s not a good thing, and it’s not a good thing. It’s worse, and it would be useful to think about following the methodology in order to measure the e-waste, as well as to see the impact when you set some policies or strategies and implementation of these policies. You can see how how there is improvement in place due to the implementation of these policies. So I think this is very important, not only for the Kingdom, I think for maybe for the region as well, because you can, after this, you can also share this with the others, whether it’s on international level or on the regional level as well. Thank you very much, and congratulations for such wonderful work for Engineer Ela and for you, Ariane. Thank you.

Alaa Abdulaal: Thank you. And also, thank you for all the different questions. I will try to address very briefly. I think then during the presentation we will see also other kind of example of initiatives, and I will also encourage you to reply to one another, right? So if you know some awareness campaign that works, please raise a hand and say in our country we did this and was successful, etc. So I think we have one question about how you do consumer awareness. Another one, it’s about collection. How does it work in data privacy? And then it’s how does it make, like, what are the different recycling processes that make sense for a small community or small economy? And then can you hear? Yeah. So consumer awareness. Short answer, it takes time. It’s not something that you can do from one day to another. I like the sentence repetition is communication. You need to hear one message once, twice, three times before really understanding and reaching all the population. I think what works well is government awareness campaign, but mainly working with the NGOs that are on the ground. That is where you need to really access different type of channels. So it’s, of course, internet. A lot of us are now on the web. It’s about also on the ground kind of workshops of this type of events that we are doing, but then going face to face with the informal sectors and try to make them aware of the challenges. Of course, the more on the ground you are, practical example you will need to give. You cannot go to a small area, a small village in in Zambia and say, you know, the impact of e-waste is 58 billion. That will not work, right? You can make an example of if you don’t recycle, then it will impact the health for the lungs, etc. So that might be a little bit more concrete example. Yeah, it takes time and you need to leverage a social sector with the different channels. Collection system. Great question. So on one side private sector, social sector and government. Private sector, now with some policies of EPR, of extended producer responsibilities, a lot of companies need to take your phone back. So the first thing is you want to give me the iPhone back. So if you want one, I’m talking about the iPhone, but sorry, Samsung, you want a phone, you need to give the other phone back. And this is the reverse logistics, right? We’ll not go into the discussion if it makes sense or not economically for the producers, but this is one channel. The second one, again for the private sector, they sometimes put the different boots where you can drop the technologies. Of course, if there is data security, we’ll talk later, you might not be comfortable just to put it in a box. But then there are other kind of cables where you might be fine with it. Social sector or kind of organization, now there are organization that on behalf of the producer will then organize the collections. So that is where it is important again, and that is spread on the territory. And then it’s very clear who does it and what is the purpose for this. So that is NGOs that of course is connected with a consumer awareness, but then accessibility. And then the last one is government. I saw that before here was Abdul Aziz that is from CST, from the KSA

Arianna Molino: regulator, and they did a great initiative to recycle my device when they tackled both of the questions you had. First of all, they saw that in KSA, but I guess in most of the countries, there is a lot of concern about privacy. Where my photo will go, right? Even if I delete it, I also don’t know. If I delete it, I’m not sure if they’re probably there, right? There’s always some magic gig that resuscitates stuff. At least when I delete, I hope that there is someone that will do for me. So they see that in some countries, government have the trust and so consumer are okay to handle the device to the government. And so they will reassure you that the data will be the first one that will be kind of erased in a secure way before handling over to another actor in the supply chain, right? Now, this doesn’t work in China, for example. China, they don’t trust to give to the government, right? They trust the private sector more than the government, correct. So then you have to understand in your country, what is the culture, right? I’m Italian. I’m not sure if I will trust my government, right? But again, also private sector. I’m questionable. But for example, in China, we know that private sector will have, you know, better trust. In the London workshop, there was a specifically one company that was dedicated on erasing data and make it secure. So that is where you need to build trust. You need to build the technologies, etc. But long story short, this is a pain point. This is a pain point that, yes, we need to be addressed. And we cannot just think that, you know, once you know where to throw your phone, you’re happy to do it. For the privacy perspective, there are some government policies as well. If we see some advanced countries, they have policies for when they export the e-waste, particularly the electronics. So they mention specific clauses, like they need to discard the hard disk, and this is where the data is stored. So usually in the government and national level policies, they mention categorically to don’t export the storage devices. Yeah, indeed. So it started with policies and then with the implementation, right? So, as always, then there are people that say how are you making sure that the policies really get enforced, right? That is another, you know, topic that we can discuss later. But then going maybe to the question of what small economies or small islands can do, I think upcycle and recycle is the first thing that needs to be done. First of all, because you close the loop earlier and you extend the life of the device. Of course, there are some cultures where secondhand is better accepted than others. And yeah, we know that in Africa, for example, they are really super good in it, right? While in Italy, to be honest, if I have something broken, I will always go to my grandpa because the whole generation knows how to do it. And I’m the one that is not really comfortable sometimes to fix, you know, different devices. So first of all, it’s upcycle and recycle. And then what recycling business is more profitable or makes sense? I would say focus on dismantling, because then you can extract the plastic. And then the plastic can go in any plastic recycling.

Audience: Or then extract in the glass. So the glass can then go not only on e-waste recycling, but can be on glass recycling for other industries. Probably you will not have the volume to do batteries that you will need to. But good news is that critical raw material are more and more a hot topic nowadays. So you can translate it in an economic advantage. I can sell you that. Because soon, if we continue like this, we will not have raw material. So in order to make batteries for a new e-vehicle, we will not have lithium, et cetera. So you will need to recycle. So this is where they will come to have kind of feedstock. Of course, logistics might be an issue. But that can be, again, something to evaluate, or at least to see the numbers in order to do the business case. And last but not least, data. So you’re talking with a consultant that needs to do data collection. So I feel the pain, right? So we try to go to different countries and different representatives and say, OK, we go to the source. You as a government that look at e-waste, can you please give us country data? And that is where you understand that, first of all, there is no common understanding of e-waste. The definition, you always have to step back and say, no, no, no, it’s not just phone, right? Like, six categories, et cetera. So, ah, OK. So this is where maybe it’s not one department. Maybe there are two, three departments. And then, to be honest, in this region, they are still kind of step towards it. KSA now, in the last two years, is launching one initiative for data collection, but also mapping all the different supply chain on waste in general. So that is where you can start having a little bit more granularity. But then you can see some efforts also using technologies, because, again, I think ICT can really be leveraged for this type of problems. And so they have platforms where maybe you’re not really tackling the data across the value chain, but you’re putting together maybe the collectors with the recyclers that has to exchange e-waste.

Arianna Molino: So at least you see all the transaction, and you start really understanding what’s going on, at least in that part of the supply chain. So this is happening. There are different countries that are doing it. And also e-waste trade, because they have to enter your border and exit. At least in that transaction, you can start to have control over it. Now, issue, classification. Some do not classify as e-waste, also because most of the time it’s illegal. They’re ban on export, ban on import. So they are sometimes wrongly defined as electronics. So that is where, of course, you will need more enforcement. But yeah, we are also thinking about it. So with Ms. Ala and Dr. Saeed, we are also trying to tackle this and maybe give some lesson learned in 2025. So conscious of time, but thank you for that. I hope we discuss. And of course, later on, we can also have a better, deeper discussion. Now, Dr. Saeed told me that you are a little bit late. Italian style, I’m talking a lot. So now, we are in IGF. So now, yes, you can take your phone. I think some have already anticipated this moment. I already have the phone. Slido, you can scan this code. And you can access it. Ideally, it will not fail. That would be magic. And the first question is pretty simple. I think everybody know the country where they are from. Now, if you are from one country and you’re representing another one, up to you what you want to put. Yeah, and we will see the different results. And I’m really happy that we see different country represented here. So Thailand, Maldives, Tonga, Netherlands. Maybe I know who is from Netherlands and Saudi. We have five participants. I think in this room, there are a little bit more than five. So I encourage everyone, if it’s possible, to participate. It’s anonymous, as you can see. So it’s really to start. Then later on, we will try to connect the different solutions, different issues to the. Sorry. Two value. Two Netherlands. Good. Rwanda, Tanzania. Perfect. OK, and you can join the poll also later. There will be a couple of questions. So the next question is, which sector you are representing? If it’s private sector, public sector, or social third sector? This will help us also understanding you’re more interested into policies, you’re more interested into solution implementation, more in kind of awareness and collaboration for different impact. Great. OK, we have public sector. That is almost half of the audience. And then also private sector. Social sector is a little bit kind of less. So here, if you know there are policy makers on one side, if you know there are business on the other side, I really encourage you to discuss. Because that is where we see the most interesting debate. Because of course, policy maker need to arrive to some compromises in defining the regulations. But then you have here some of the businesses that really, it’s not really feel the pain, but has really to implement it, right? And you’re from different countries, so it’s not that they are pointing you specifically. So great. So e-waste. Just if you have to think one word, two words, about e-waste, after this 40 minutes of discussions, what do you think? And probably there will be some repetitions. This is really to test which part of the e-waste you are more concerned or passionate, if you want to. I like Infinity Loops. Wow. The Infinity Loops author needs to do this type of workshop, because definitely the wording is very, very good for so different campaigns of awareness. And use electronic material, collection, environmental justice. I like that. Kind of just transition, environmental justice, expand lifespan. As I was mentioning, it’s not just a matter of recycling. We need to extend the life of the devices. Great. So reuse, recycle. Great. Perfect. So now that we want to test the issue that you see this, how much do you think it’s important e-waste in your country? And it’s not that you have to say, ah, it’s horrible, because I did the presentation, right? If you also feel that it’s tackling or there’s not enough volume, really here. So it’s not yet significant, but it’s increasing and moderately significant. So you see, after this presentation, at least I think it’s not that everybody thought, OK, it’s super significant. So I think that this is a good kind of takeaway that probably the urgency is not there yet, either because of facts or perception. Then let’s see. Of course, we need data to arrive at some conclusion, but this we will probably for each country will understand case by case. So yeah, it’s not significant, but it will come. So better to be prepared and proactive rather than reactive. Right. So here about collaboration. Are you collaborating or not? Because when we were in other workshop, this was a big debate, like super complex. I want to collaborate, but I don’t know with whom. Other are like, no, no, I base my business on collaboration because it’s very complex and I need to be interrelated with other organization in order to be successful. Yeah, as also other workshop, like I don’t collaborate, but it would be great to do it. And this is also for the policymakers, right? Because, for example, in Ghana, they are kind of mature in terms of policies. they have a lot of discussions with the informal sector and private sector. Now there are critics that say that like they are they did a lot of policies but then the private sector is not able to implement or it cannot enforce it right but there is this kind of culture of different workshop different working group to enable the collaboration. On the other there’s other countries we’re like for example with Oman that they are still starting to work with the private sector. Okay great so you want to start you have a lot of people here that potentially are passionate about it okay probably will not do a waste trade between a kind of Tanzania Netherlands probably that will not be the most effective and in terms of also impact of emission but still feel free to then after grab and know each other to see if there is any potential option. Maybe just going back like I have already explored and activated some. I think it’s amazing that no one has a lot of collaboration active right. This tells a lot about the maturity of the system and how much still we are working in silence. Not sure if someone wants to to talk about collaboration that they had so far set up and with whom and why mainly so so why because the driver is important why you’re doing it is because of economic profitabilities it is because of kind of operation you need feedstock or it is you know for designing the solution together. No volunteer okay maybe later on someone will be adventurous. Now barriers. Barriers to scale up the collaboration we said okay maybe I want to start maybe I want to do more I think there was at least one that was saying I’m not interested but for the one that would like to really scale up the collaboration why why you’re not doing it it is because I don’t have funds or there is no financial mechanism that helps me collaborating or do I need to there is a lack of awareness or policies I don’t have data so I don’t know where to turn around. Some yeah I think here like lack of infrastructure and ICT enablers doesn’t seems to be okay jumping up so I will maybe hold from conclusion until we everybody has replied. Just here what we have seen is that financial drivers that or mechanisms are not really aligned with the profitability of the value chain so mainly a comment that we had in London last week was that financially it’s not really kind of profitable or to for example reuse and repair it costs more to reuse and repair so what do you do is just recycle and that is something that as a government you know you need to adjust because you want to close the loop early on and again if someone wants to raise their hands and for questions for comments really please do it okay so awareness I think as also here we had for the first comment awareness is the first barrier with also investment and yeah that is where I think around the world is still a lot of to do so if we then I think we have just one couple of questions and then we can move on with the digital divide what potential initiatives would you recommend and here if it’s too long to write also you can just you can just open the floor for for discussion just to give some example again there were collaboration in KSA with the government working with the social sector that would collect the device and the governor will be the one that guarantee that privacy is respected and then will connect also with also the producer right or for the telco company to ensure that it will also start doing awareness for their consumers to to tell them okay you have a new devices a modem bring back and then I will give you a new one so that is one that collaboration that we saw in KSA okay so here potential solution or potential initiatives solution is yeah collaborate collaborate and collaborate it’s about the reward system and that is interesting because it’s being also to the financial right to the second challenge that we have discussed so reward you as always in this world of this economy you need to have a reward in order to really be motivated also because at the end you need to have financial sustainability as you will not do kind of a business so at the end this is why EPR sometimes works because you then give the responsibility to the producers so at the front of their value chain so that is where they have to increase their price or costs in order then to manage till the end of life and that will help you potentially do some reward when you give back the phone and you have X money back right of course it will not be after like after three years that you use one device you will not that you cannot value $100 but still that small reward can be pennies but for some people you know it’s good enough like in Germany sometimes you put the bottles and you have two cents five cents still it’s thing that kind of kind of work for consumers using AI to support for that I think like we can also open the floor of you know how technologies our AI can help I don’t know who wrote that if he wants to or she wants to elaborate more in the workshop in Singapore there were a lot of discussion or so how to integrate AI and other technologies in the warehouse of the different companies to understand the values of the product when they depreciate to bring back etc to optimize and yeah that was also quite quite stimulating as conversation doing policies yeah public awareness and behavioral change launch campaigns to educate consumers encourage cultural shift yes to repair and reuse great thanks you thank you everyone I think like now I want to link this to the digital divide I think we already have mentioned it before how we can promote e-waste and then also do that you know promote this reuse of devices in the in the part of the population in need so if you think about reuse of electronics you as a company or you as a policymaker why would you do it it’s because you think about the environment you think about this because of the social you think about the brand and the corporate social responsibility so the governance or you think about the economics so that ESG and also the profitability so here I want really to test the driver why would you reuse or you would encourage to reuse or repair one device you can I think choose up to two yeah so one driver or reward to connect to the the previous is CSR or brand private sectors can really use that to communicate their commitment to sustainability right of course it should not be like just greenwashing it should be substantiated by a real initiative there but I think to be honest it’s good enough right you if this helps you as a business to be positioned in the market as someone that cares about the environment etc I think it’s more than fair to to leverage that I think here I’m surprised yeah about the like social impact it’s very prominent here at least a third talked about it sometimes if you talk to people about e-waste social divide doesn’t come naturally into mind right if you start talking about um but what about you know reuse etc they start thinking maybe but I think in the south of the world the association is stronger right to start to go to Europe etc there I don’t think it’s something very prominent so this again some cultural chain cultural differences economic job creation with environment is the least. So this is again, maybe on one side the environment is linked to awareness, right? You don’t know what is the impact of reuse. And so that is where I think awareness will definitely help. And economic and job creation. A lot of companies were saying that it’s not profitable. What should I do it, right? It’s better to recycle. Like I pay for this device to collect. I have to repair. And I have to then probably send around the world and the margin are not high, right? So the economics, there are no economic incentive for it. So are you do either policies or reward system to making sure that people are incentivized? People and businesses, right? Great. So I’m going a little bit I think we’re at two mores and then maybe we can we can see either to divide into groups but due to time and I think due to also I see there’s not a lot of sharing of ideas so maybe we will see what to how to structure that one. But here rank your concern and barriers about this topic. So you’re concerned about the complexity of the value chain. You’re concerned about I don’t know what is the demand. I don’t know really how many devices repair devices I will sell. So why have to promote it? Why do I have to go into this business? Some concern about the quality. If you also do a secondhand microwave, you are maybe like a little bit worried that it would explode in your hands or your kids hands. And other mentioned export and import because sometimes you cannot export, you cannot import used devices or waste, right? So that is where sometimes there are some barriers to bring from Europe for example to the south. There are also barriers that were mentioned that about critical material. A lot of now there is a new regulation in Europe that promotes critical material recycling in Europe. So even if one device can be used for repair, it will maybe stay in Europe because the critical material are predominant. Okay so here complexity of the supply chain is the winner. And the second equality and the reliability. So the complexity I think that also comes about data, comes about awareness and comes also about probably the maturity of the market. And the second one quality and reliability that you need to have standards, right? Because sometimes if you don’t have standards, you don’t know really if one device was recycled or repaired properly. So for some probably a phone you’re okish, most of that will not explode in your hands, but there are others where probably you don’t want to access it because of that concerns. And unethical trade and dumping. Okay we go to the third one. This is something that we have tested especially for trade. Then I can give my device but also the clothes, right? But then probably they will be anyway go to the landfill. So do I trust it? It’s a matter of trust, a matter of transparency, a matter of awareness if really what is claimed really will happen. Great. So here again maybe initiative more for cross-border e-waste. I think also we can talk on the microphone. It’s too much rather than typing. If you have done already or if you think that there is some initiative that you believe are valuable, what could be? Like between collectors and producers. Maybe also thinking about you know Egypt or about the island or KSA. What might be? Maybe it’s lunchtime. Everybody’s looking forward for a break. And I promise it’s almost done. Last 10 minutes of brainpower. I think there is one participant typing. So we will wait for the brave one. And I promise I will not call out. You’re safe. Oh two? Okay. As a sharing like an initiative that UNITAR told us to do is to go really on the ground and follow the informal sector, the pickers, to really collect the data. That’s one of the point was mentioned before. And really to understand the complex supply chain etc. So great. So global regulation and then responsible recycling certification. That is nice. Yeah certification or standards that will then reassure you that the quality is there. Right. Having collection point and doing campaign and EPR. Yeah. EPR it’s something that a lot of countries in the world are not doing it. And also for global regulation just to connect to it with a DCO we are working on a framework for government. So targeting government not private sector. And tell them what are the key components that they need to do. So maybe ending with that. The key components of the framework are this one. So government we believe that first they need to think about regulation and policing and strategies. Of course based on data. Because if you based on fingers in the air most probably will not be that effective. Financial instrument. Again reward. You need to on one side understand what comes into your pocket and what goes out. Right. And you need to balance it. And in order to really foster and give incentives to the to the private sector to the social sector you need to have for example EPR strategies. EPR fees that make sense for the ecosystem. And then awareness and capability building. Here awareness for consumer but also for businesses. Right. Sometimes also businesses like are not aware that maybe that component is really e-waste. And they are you know dumping it. On capability building. Also the government needs to learn about it. I mean it’s a it’s a like new new topic somehow. So so like the government the people in the government for example to understand the vapes. Was a big debate last week in London about the vapes are electronic devices. They are super like increasing volumes etc. And the legislator do not know how to manage that big topic. Again capability building everywhere. And finally infrastructure and technologies. You need to have infrastructure for recycling. Also dismantling it. Right. It’s not just a matter of mechanical or chemical recycling. It’s also all the infrastructure for collection dismantling etc. And technologies. ICT. And I think in this forum ICT can be also a great tool. And with this we were planning to do the like a discussion in groups. I think based on the time and based also on this the setup of the rooms and the participation maybe I can just give the the microphone to either Miss Alaa or Dr. Saeed for their final remarks. And thank you everyone. You made it almost to one. Thank you very much for your active participation. I think it’s very two-way communication and we get a lot of information from you. And as

Syed Iftikhar: we told that this initiative is we are co-creating the framework. And definitely we incorporate your feedback in our framework. This framework is not only for the DCO member state. Basically this framework for the whole countries of the world. So thanks again for your feedback and participation. Thank you.

Alaa Abdulaal: Thank you everyone. So just one thing if we can get out out of this session with the feel of responsibility that this challenge is in the hands of each. The solution is in the hand of each one of us. This would be for us we have achieved a great goal. And this is a call of action to be part of the solution to to build a future, a greener future, a more sustainable economical future for everyone. Thank you for joining us and hope that we can hear from you and your feedback. Thank you so much.

Agreement Points

E-waste is a growing environmental and social challenge

Alaa Abdulaal

Mohamed Mashaka

Arianna Molino

Growing e-waste volumes pose environmental and health risks

Lack of consumer awareness about e-waste impacts

E-waste contributes to climate change and pollution

Multiple speakers emphasized the increasing volume of e-waste and its negative impacts on the environment and human health, highlighting the urgent need for action.

Multi-stakeholder collaboration is crucial for effective e-waste management

Alaa Abdulaal

Syed Iftikhar

Arianna Molino

E-waste management requires shared responsibility across sectors

Importance of public-private partnerships for e-waste initiatives

Need for cross-border and regional collaboration on e-waste

Speakers agreed that addressing e-waste challenges requires collaboration between governments, businesses, individuals, and across borders.

Consumer awareness and education are key to improving e-waste management

Mohamed Mashaka

Ayman Arbiyat

Arianna Molino

Lack of consumer awareness about e-waste impacts

Data privacy concerns when disposing of devices

Quality and reliability concerns with refurbished electronics

Multiple speakers highlighted the need for increased consumer awareness and education to address concerns and promote proper e-waste disposal.

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the importance of involving multiple stakeholders, including the informal sector, in e-waste management efforts.

Alaa Abdulaal

Arianna Molino

E-waste management requires shared responsibility across sectors

Engaging informal sector workers in e-waste management

Both speakers highlighted the need for comprehensive strategies and incentives to guide and encourage proper e-waste management practices.

Mohamed Mashaka

Syed Iftikhar

Need for comprehensive e-waste strategies and guidelines

Developing financial incentives for proper e-waste management

Unexpected Consensus

Importance of data collection and measurement for e-waste

Audience

Arianna Molino

Importance of data collection and measurement for e-waste

Complexity of e-waste supply chains

There was unexpected consensus on the critical need for accurate data collection and measurement in e-waste management, with both the audience and speakers recognizing its importance for effective policy-making and understanding the complex e-waste supply chain.

Overall Assessment

Summary

The main areas of agreement included recognizing e-waste as a growing challenge, the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration, the importance of consumer awareness and education, and the necessity of comprehensive strategies and incentives for proper e-waste management.

Consensus level

There was a moderate to high level of consensus among speakers on the key challenges and necessary actions for e-waste management. This consensus suggests a shared understanding of the issues, which could facilitate the development of coordinated strategies and policies to address e-waste challenges globally.

Different Viewpoints

Approach to engaging informal sector workers in e-waste management

Arianna Molino

Mohamed Mashaka

Engaging informal sector workers in e-waste management

Need for comprehensive e-waste strategies and guidelines

While Arianna Molino suggests integrating informal workers into the e-waste management system, Mohamed Mashaka emphasizes the need for comprehensive strategies and guidelines, potentially overlooking the role of the informal sector.

Unexpected Differences

Focus on data collection and measurement

Arianna Molino

Audience

Complexity of e-waste supply chains

Importance of data collection and measurement for e-waste

While Arianna Molino focuses on the complexity of e-waste supply chains, an audience member unexpectedly emphasizes the importance of accurate data collection and measurement, highlighting a potential gap in the discussion.

Overall Assessment

summary

The main areas of disagreement revolve around the approach to engaging informal workers, the balance between promoting reuse and addressing quality concerns, and the prioritization of data collection in e-waste management strategies.

difference_level

The level of disagreement among speakers is moderate. While there is general consensus on the importance of addressing e-waste challenges, there are differing perspectives on specific strategies and priorities. These differences highlight the complexity of e-waste management and the need for multifaceted approaches tailored to different contexts.

Partial Agreements

Both speakers agree on the need for better e-waste management, but while Alaa Abdulaal emphasizes shared responsibility across sectors, Ayman Arbiyat focuses on the specific issue of accessible collection systems.

Alaa Abdulaal

Ayman Arbiyat

E-waste management requires shared responsibility across sectors

Lack of accessible e-waste collection systems

Both recognize the importance of reuse and repair in e-waste management, but while Arianna Molino promotes it as a strategy, the audience raises concerns about the quality and reliability of refurbished devices.

Arianna Molino

Audience

Promoting reuse and repair to extend device lifespans

Quality and reliability concerns with refurbished electronics

Similar Viewpoints

Both speakers emphasized the importance of involving multiple stakeholders, including the informal sector, in e-waste management efforts.

Alaa Abdulaal

Arianna Molino

E-waste management requires shared responsibility across sectors

Engaging informal sector workers in e-waste management

Both speakers highlighted the need for comprehensive strategies and incentives to guide and encourage proper e-waste management practices.

Mohamed Mashaka

Syed Iftikhar

Need for comprehensive e-waste strategies and guidelines

Developing financial incentives for proper e-waste management

Key Takeaways

E-waste volumes are growing rapidly, posing environmental and health risks globally

There is a lack of consumer awareness about e-waste impacts and proper disposal

E-waste management requires shared responsibility across government, private sector, and individuals

Collaboration and partnerships are crucial for effective e-waste management

Data collection and measurement are important for developing effective e-waste strategies

Promoting device reuse and repair can help extend lifespans and reduce e-waste

Small island nations face unique e-waste challenges due to geographic isolation

Consumer concerns like data privacy and device quality are barriers to proper e-waste disposal

Policy frameworks and financial incentives are needed to promote proper e-waste management

Resolutions and Action Items

DCO to develop a framework for governments on key components of e-waste management

Participants encouraged to take personal responsibility for proper e-waste disposal

DCO to incorporate participant feedback into their e-waste management framework

Unresolved Issues

How to effectively engage and regulate the informal e-waste sector

Specific strategies for small island nations to manage e-waste given their unique challenges

How to address the lack of profitability in device repair and reuse

Methods to improve data collection and measurement of e-waste volumes

How to harmonize cross-border e-waste regulations globally

Suggested Compromises

Balancing data privacy concerns with the need for proper e-waste disposal through secure data erasure services

Developing standards and certifications for refurbished electronics to address quality concerns

Implementing extended producer responsibility policies while ensuring economic viability for businesses

One of the areas that I think we are really facing as a challenge is the literacy to our citizens, because most of these citizens, they aren’t aware of the impact of this e-waste on different initiatives that they are doing.

speaker

Mohamed Mashaka

reason

This comment highlights the critical issue of public awareness and education regarding e-waste, which is often overlooked in technical discussions.

impact

It shifted the conversation to focus more on the importance of public awareness campaigns and strategies for educating citizens about e-waste impacts.

Are there any cost-effective recycling solutions suitable for small-scale and more decentralized systems in the Pacific? Also, can e-waste be repurposed or up-cycled locally to create some economic opportunities?

speaker

Noia

reason

This question brings attention to the unique challenges faced by small island nations and introduces the idea of local economic opportunities through e-waste management.

impact

It broadened the discussion to consider solutions for different geographical contexts and economic scales, prompting thoughts on decentralized and localized approaches to e-waste management.

Is there any intention in your organization to measure the e-waste, especially that what I noticed that all the figures presented are estimated figures and for globally.

speaker

Dr. Nagwa

reason

This comment addresses a crucial gap in e-waste management – the lack of accurate measurement and data collection.

impact

It led to a discussion about the importance of data in policy-making and implementation, highlighting the need for better measurement methodologies in the e-waste sector.

Infinity Loops

speaker

Anonymous participant (via Slido)

reason

This concise response encapsulates the concept of circular economy in e-waste management, showing a deep understanding of the topic.

impact

While brief, this comment reinforced the importance of viewing e-waste management as a continuous cycle rather than a linear process, influencing the subsequent discussion on reuse and recycling.

Complexity of the supply chain is the winner. And the second equality and the reliability.

speaker

Arianna Molino

reason

This summary of participant responses highlights the key challenges in e-waste management as perceived by the audience.

impact

It focused the discussion on addressing supply chain complexities and quality concerns in e-waste management, shaping the direction of potential solutions discussed.

Overall Assessment

These key comments shaped the discussion by broadening its scope from technical aspects to include crucial elements like public awareness, geographical context, data accuracy, circular economy principles, and supply chain challenges. They prompted a more holistic view of e-waste management, considering various stakeholders and contexts. The discussion evolved from a general overview to addressing specific challenges and potential solutions, emphasizing the need for collaborative, data-driven, and context-specific approaches to e-waste management.

What are effective e-waste collection systems?

speaker

Ayman Arbiyat

explanation

Understanding effective collection systems is crucial for addressing the e-waste problem at its source.

How can privacy concerns related to data on electronic devices be addressed in e-waste collection?

speaker

Ayman Arbiyat

explanation

Addressing privacy concerns is essential for encouraging people to recycle their electronic devices.

What are cost-effective recycling solutions suitable for small-scale and decentralized systems in small island countries?

speaker

Noia from Tuvalu

explanation

Finding appropriate solutions for small island nations is important for global e-waste management.

How can e-waste be repurposed or up-cycled locally to create economic opportunities in small island countries?

speaker

Noia from Tuvalu

explanation

Exploring local economic opportunities from e-waste can incentivize better management practices.

How can we improve the measurement and data collection of e-waste globally and regionally?

speaker

Dr. Nagwa from Egypt

explanation

Accurate data is crucial for understanding the scale of the problem and measuring the impact of policies.

How can artificial intelligence be used to support e-waste management?

speaker

Unidentified participant (via Slido)

explanation

Exploring the potential of AI in e-waste management could lead to more efficient and effective solutions.

What are effective awareness campaigns and behavioral change strategies to encourage e-waste recycling and reuse?

speaker

Unidentified participant (via Slido)

explanation

Public awareness and behavior change are crucial for improving e-waste management practices.

How can we develop and implement global regulations and responsible recycling certifications for e-waste?

speaker

Unidentified participant (via Slido)

explanation

Standardized regulations and certifications could improve the quality and reliability of e-waste recycling globally.