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Turning the e-waste challenge into an opportunity
As an issue spanning geo-political,
developmental and environmental concerns, e-waste is a recurrent theme in the
environmental agenda of countries, the ICT industry media and a strong focus
for international organizations. It’s an issue that evokes concerns of
exploitation of developing countries and pollution in developed and developing
countries alike. At the same time it is an opportunity to create new resources
through reuse and recycling, all of which will depend on environmentally sound
management (ESM) of e-waste at the global level.
At Telefonica it’s an issue that we take very
seriously, contributing to international efforts to tackle the problem by
participating in different forums as well as making sure our own house is in
order through an integrated waste management program. Telefonica is proud to be
hosting the coming ITU Green Standards Week, which will feature a Forum on e-waste,
in Madrid 16-20 September. During this event we will promote the idea that
e-waste is a challenge that can become an opportunity for sustainable business
and green growth. At the same time we will emphasize that ESM requires
articulated efforts between public sector, private sector, NGOs, academia and
citizenship.
Taking into account that the United Nations
University (UNU) estimates that 2013 has so far produced 53 million tons of
e-waste, it is clear that this is a topic that must be tackled with some
urgency. To give the problem some perspective consider the report Where are
Weee in Africa which estimates that about 220,000 tons of electrical and
electronic goods were shipped from the EU to West Africa in 2009, a large
amount of which was waste with no possible further use. Nevertheless
governments and companies are moving forward. In 2012, a new Directive on the
European Union, EU Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
Directive, agreed that an ambitious target of 85 per cent of WEEE should be
collected separately from other waste by 2019.
That equates to roughly 20kg per capita compared
to the current collection target of 4kg. In addition, the new WEEE Directive
will give EU Member States the tools to fight illegal export of waste more
effectively. Part of the problem is that, at least as far as Europe is
concerned, current rules make the export of used electronic goods cheaper than
disposing of them at home. There is also clear evidence that some products sent
as charitable donations, ostensibly for reuse, are in fact little more than
useless waste. According to UNEP in Ghana 30 per cent of imports of allegedly
secondhand products are estimated to be unusable. Telefonica has been proud to
participate in international efforts to mitigate the detrimental effects of
e-waste and to control proliferation. As well as contributing to ITU work on
the topic, and hosting this year’s Green Standards Week, Telefonica recently
sponsored an ITU workshop in Ecuador on the “Environmentally Sound Management
of e-Waste in Latin America”. That meeting closed with a call to Latin American
Governments to establish policies and regulation based on international
standards to facilitate the environmentally sound management of e-waste.
That call
followed a similar agreement by representatives of Central American
governments, private companies, universities and non-governmental organizations
on a 20-point Agenda aiming to promote advances in the handling of waste
electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the region. Key, they agreed,
will be the application and identification of business models that leverage
recycling opportunities and create new employment. TelefĂłnica also practices
what it preaches, promoting the three “Rs” – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in the
management of its waste. As an example, Telefonica has put in place programmes
to financially incentivise customers to recycle their old mobile phones. In
2012, the Company collected 147 metric tons of customers’ phones for reuse and
69 tonnes for recycling. We always use authorised companies, and moreover work
through special audits to ensure environmentally sound management (ESM) of
WEEE.
When managing e-waste we will always find
challenges. However we are convinced that the commitment of manufacturers,
importers and distributors, can make a difference throughout the life-cycle of
electrical and electronic equipment. We have every reason to feel positive that
the progress achieved so far, including initiatives such as those mentioned and
international standardization efforts, like ITU’s Universal Charging Solutions,
are taking us in the right direction. We will continue to work with ITU, UNEP,
UNU and other partners to ensure that the e-waste challenges can be turned into
an opportunity.
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