Sri Lanka ratified the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal in 1992 and had taken many steps to ensure implementation of its provisions.  As global economies and systems developed and expanded, new priorities have emerged.  At the sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (COP6) Electrical and Electronic wastes (e-Wastes) was recognized as a priority issue requiring urgent attention.  The need for action was considered especially important to the Asia-Pacific region.  Over the past few years Sri Lanka has a significant growth in telecommunication penetration. Information and Communication Technology is especially promoted to bring about development of the economy. 

The Secretariat of the Basel Convention (SBC) in collaboration with the Government of Japan initiated a project on environmentally sound management of e-Waste in the Asia Pacific Region. The Sri Lankan proposal to develop a National Implementation Plan for Electrical and Electronic Waste Management was included as a part of this regional project.

Project documents:

• Project Team-Component I
• Executive Summary
• Annexes

In view of the growing concerns of e-waste management across the globe, in particular the developing countries of Asia, the Secretariat of Basel Convention, under the project on Environmentally Sound Management of e-Waste in Asia Pacific, supported 10 Asian countries. India, a signatory to the Basel Convention, has initiated several programs on e-waste management. However, there is a need for rationalising the inventorisation process, increased awareness on e-waste management among stakeholders and analysis of possible partnership models to promote environmentally sound management (ESM) of e-waste.

In this context, Society for Development Alternatives, India (DA) is being supported for the first phase of the NGO project titled Facilitating Partnerships for Environmentally Sound Management of e-Waste in India. The project intends to reduce the environmental and health impacts from unscientific e-waste management in computer and mobile phone industry sector while demonstrating benefits and ensuring multistakeholder participation.

This report developed by DA is aimed at serving as a tool for devising models of multistakeholder partnership to ensure environmentally sound anagement of e-waste in India.

Download the report:

Basel Convention Regional Centre for South‐East Asia (BCRC‐SEA) in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Basel Convention (SBC) has developed this Technical Guidelines for Inventory of Electrical and Electronic Waste. This Technical Guidelines Development Project is funded by the Government of Japan through the Basel Convention Trust Fund. A national consultant, namely PT Amar Binaya Karsa, has been retained by BCRC‐SEA to undertake the development of these guidelines.

The purpose of the these guidelines is to provide methodological guidelines to all stakeholders particularly parties in region served by the BCRC‐SEA in conducting detailed inventories at national level and, eventually, at regional level. The Guidelines will assist Parties in establishment and completion of detailed inventory. Nevertheless, any other parties to the Basel Convention outside the Region and any other interested parties are welcome to use these Guidelines and give feedback for future revisions in order to make them more useful to all users.

Project documents (on the BCRC SEA website):

• Information available at BCRC SEA website
• Development of Technical Guidelines for Electrical and Electronic Waste Inventory
• Development of Technical Guidelines for 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) of End-of-Life Electrical and Electronic Products

The objective of this Project is to perform preliminary inventory on electronic and electrical waste in Indonesia as the initial step for developing national inventory system on e-waste which is going to be a part of national inventory of hazardous waste in Indonesia. The result of this project is expected to support Indonesia in implementing environmentally sound management for electrical and electronic waste.

The scope of activities includes two main activities namely preliminary inventory of e-waste and national awareness raising workshop on e-waste. The survey was conducted to the several respondents such as traders, users, distributors, interisland traders and government agencies. Primary data were collected from the survey to the facility sites including electronic service centres, electronic shops selling refurbished or reconditioned goods, scrap collector companies and sites where illegal imports of e-waste are collected and or dumped. Secondary data were also collected from the various related sources such as government agencies, association of electronic manufacturers and other sources. A series of consultative meetings and discussions with relevant agencies and NGOs were also conducted, followed by discussion on the national workshop.

The most valuable data gathered were the annual production capacity and real production capacity of electronic sector which would be utilized to predict the generation of e-waste in Indonesia. It was found that, to date, Indonesia has 80 large and 150 small-medium enterprises of electronic manufacturers which are located mainly in Java Island, North Sumatera Province and Batam Island of the Kepulauan Riau Province. Electronic industries in Indonesia cover wide range of products, from household appliances to industrial electronic products. The main products include air conditioning, electronic component, fan, other electronic products, radio, radio cassette, refrigerator and its component, and television. Based on production capacity, electronic component has the biggest capacity, followed by computer component and equipment, television and air conditioning respectively.

The workshops of Electronic and Electrical Equipment (e-waste) Management in Indonesia which had been conducted by Ministry of Environment of Indonesia on 20 – 21 December 2006, identified several issues and recommendation, which expectedly would contribute the development of national policy on e-waste management in Indonesia.

From legislation aspects, Indonesia has not yet had specified criteria on e-waste, nor established specific regulation on e-waste management which will possibly cause confusion or misunderstanding in the implementation. For instance, regulation on prohibition of importing second-hand and e-waste has already been in place. However, trade of imported second-hand electronic product and product made of e-waste could be found easily in many places. It shows inconsistency in enforcing the regulation. Different interpretation among institutions and organization regarding the legislation on e-waste reflects poor coordination and communication. Confusion also has been found among local government institutions in handling e-waste that need to be clarified by relevant institutions in central level.

Regarding Technical Aspect, it was found that the technical definition on e-waste as well as second-hand equipment has not been defined yet, accurate and reliable data available were limited and hardly accessed, and the exact information on the lifetime data of each type of electronic product to calculate assumption of the volume of e-waste was difficult to obtain.

Concerning Economic Aspect, it was identified that some institutions claim that second-hand electronic, refurbished electronic or electronic equipment made from e-waste component could be of benefit to low-income society who could not afford the new ones. They also consider the advantage of using this kind of electronic to generate income at low skill and low capital. The unclear definition on e-waste would also lead to unnecessary high cost waste management and opportunity cost to utilize the waste and second-hand product. Ministry of Industry admitted that illegal import of second-hand electronic and or e-waste reduces domestic market for 40%.

In terms of Inspection and Enforcement Aspect, it was identified that since Indonesia has hundreds of sea ports, some difficulties emerged in monitoring any illegal import of e-waste. Existing HS code, to some extent, has loop holes in order to falsify documents and to use inappropriate HS Code. Survey in Batam and Wakatobi Island showed no inspection and enforcement taking place in e-waste dumping sites. There are indications the leakage or illegal entry of recycled and refurbished electronic equipment from bounded zone to Indonesian territory.

Concerning Consumers Protection Aspect, it was identified that consumers prefer to purchase low-cost product regardless of its quality and lifetime warranty. There are also limitation of information received by consumers and ability to assess the quality of the product and no legal procedure to protect the consumers from defected product of second-hand or refurbished product

Finally, several recommendations have been identified. Regarding Legislation Aspect, there was a need among related institutions such as Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Environment and Customs to discuss the regulation on prohibiting of imported second-hand and e-waste in order to have similar legal interpretation in its implementation and enforcement; to discuss legislation on bounded zone facilities in order to have better understanding of export-import procedures, and environmental and health consideration in disposing of the waste; to discuss the difference definitions on export-import of e-waste, for example PCB scrap, with refer to relevant HS Code. Those recommendations mentioned aim to prevent and control falsifying of export-import document; and to calculate the amount of the e-waste for evaluating occurred problem and providing the solution.

Concerning Institutional Aspect, it was recommended to enhance coordination and communication among all involved institutions and organizations; Awareness and capacity of local government officers on managing hazardous waste include e-waste, have to be increased in order to handle tricky and false promise of local revenue.

In terms of Technical Aspect there were several needs identified i.e. Technical criteria needs to be agreed by all parties, including universities and researchers, to prepare definition and specific legislation on e-waste and second-hand electronic and manufacturers need to be encouraged to implement cleaner production and apply other approaches such as eco-design, extended producers’ responsibility and take-back mechanism. Technical discussion should be convened among authorities and manufacturers to set up a comprehensive management of e-waste including data collection and exchange.

Concerning Economic Aspect, it was recommended that the cost of environmental recovery and health impact due to exposure of hazardous waste which was contained in the e-waste or low safety of refurbished electronic product should be taken community’s net revenue into account; Refurbishment of electronic product activities conducted by mostly small and unauthorized enterprises or informal sector should not be prohibited as long as they use domestic second-hand electronic or e-waste; The government has to increase their technology capacity to operate in environmentally sound manner while the calculation of economic benefit which compares environmental and health cost to reduction of domestic market share should be conducted to give stakeholders clear pictures of the e-waste problems.

In terms of Inspection and Enforcement Aspect several recommendations have been raised i.e. Inspection and enforcement on illegal import of e-waste, refurbishment production process and export-import of e-waste, need to be increased particularly in the area surveyed where illegal dumping sites have been found; Customs was encouraged to increase the effort in inspection and enforcement of illegal import of e-waste by building capacity of its fleet to monitor Indonesia’s coast line, by increasing capability of its officers in identifying technical specification of illegal imported products, falsified document and inappropriate HS Code and by examining the leakage of the export-import flows to Indonesia territory.

Electric and Electronic wastes (E-waste) are recognised as one of the urgent waste streams, because E-waste has both positive and negative potentials for the environmental conservation. The positive potential is that E-product is composed of various substances of both hazardous and  non-hazardous materials which are possible to be recycled and reused as resources if it is dealt with on the environmentally sound management. The negative potential is that E-waste causes the adverse effects to human health and the environment if it is dealt with on the environmentally unsound way.

In last a few years, the environmentally unsound way of E-waste was clearly identified in the certain cities in the Asian countries that E-waste was imported as second-hand products into the cities, dismantled under the environmentally unsound way and caused the serious adverse effects to human health and the environment. The residents in the cities are not aware that the existing manual methods to dismantle E-waste is caused the adverse effects to themselves, despite the fact that the governmental or municipal authorities have barely undertaken some measures, e.g. the preparation of the regulations.

The local mechanisms identified in some participating countries were that recyclable and reusable parts dismantled from E-waste seemed to be well collected, repaired and remodelled into secondhand E-product and only other non-recyclable and reusable parts were discharged to open dumping sites. Although this local mechanism seems to be good E-waste stream in the view of the environmental conservation, all steps of the local mechanism are under the environmentally unsound way, e.g. no protection tools for human health and the environment, no separate collection, no legal control, open burning, reclamation in landfill sites which are not controlled, etc.

A comprehensive approach is necessary to undertake and implement the environmentally sound management of E-waste, because the environmentally sound management of E-waste needs to involve various aspects, e.g. the existing local mechanisms, technical matters, political situations, sharing common information, etc. Although various technical information to deal with E-waste has already been existed and been also very useful for the authorities concerned in the Asian countries which have not implemented the environmentally sound management of E-waste yet, awareness-raising and capacity building programme should be implemented as the beginning stage to implement the environmentally sound management of E-waste, because there is little aware and capacity on E-waste issues in Asia and the Pacific region despite the hot spot of E-waste issues.

BCRC China has implemented the project, entitled “Survey of the import and the environmentally sound management of electronic wastes in Asia-Pacific Region” funded by the Basel Convention Trust Fund for 2003-20044 and Environment Canada. The participating countries into the project were Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. The reports submitted by the national consultants in the countries clearly identified that there was no legal action to deal with E-waste on the environmentally sound management and E-waste mechanism was locally established on the environmentally unsound way.

Project documents:

• Terminal Report
• Final Publication

Hazardous waste management (HWM) is one of the most important environmental issues. The majority of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are concerned with this kind of waste. Some SMEs create hazardous wastes as part of their operating procedure and may pose a threat to human health and to the environment. In fact, the authorities and the public demand a closer control and better management of these toxic wastes and the associated residues.

Almost all countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region lack adequate infrastructure for hazardous waste management and are still at early stages of developing relevant legislative frameworks. Moreover, little relevant and accurate scientific information on national production of hazardous wastes (quantity and quality) as well as on treatment and disposal strategies is available. Few countries have recently completed their national chemicals profile with the assistance of UNITAR (such as Egypt, Jordan and Syria). 

This guide aims at providing the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with useful practices of HWM. Indeed, this guide allows the user to explore his/her company and to identify its weaknesses in order to take adequate corrective measures. Moreover, the guide is adapted to local needs by adopting a systematic methodology designed according to the available local rules and regulations.  The steps described in the methodology section can be followed in a systematic way throughout the guide to reach to a full understanding of the hazardous materials (HM) and hazardous waste (HW) status, and to develop and implement an appropriate action plan for managing the hazardous materials and hazardous waste.

Project documents:

• Terminal Report
• Management Guide for Hazardous Material and Waste in Small Medium Size Enterprises (Arabic, English and French)

At the third meeting of the Expert Group on best available techniques (BAT) and best environmental practices (BEP) in Tokyo in October 2004, UNEP Chemicals foreshadowed a series of regional consultations on the draft guidance to assist countries prepare for the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention (COP-1) to be held in May of 2005. It was considered that successful COP consideration, and subsequent use of the guidelines, would depend on participants’ understanding of the issues. It was important also that the guidance be representative of all regions.

The schedule of the consultations was as follows:

• 9-11 February 2005; For the Central and Eastern European region; Vienna, Austria.
• 2-4 March 2005; For the Asia Pacific region; Wellington, New Zealand.
• 7-9 March 2005; For the Central and South East Asia region; Bangkok, Thailand.
• 14-16 March 2005; For the GRULAC region; Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 21-23 March 2005; For the West Asia region; Manama, Bahrain.
• 11-13 April 2005; For the Africa region; Nairobi, Kenya.

The objectives of the consultations were:

• to inform countries of all aspects of the draft guidelines;
• to identify where further guidance was needed to reflect regional needs;
• and to help prepare countries for COP-1 discussions relating to the possible adoption of and further work on the guidelines.

The term “consultation” rather than “workshop” was used to make clear that these were not training sessions – UNEP was seeking informatio n from the regions, as well as providing them with information.

 Download the workshop report:

In the Kingdom of Cambodia, used lead acid batteries (ULAB) are not normally managed in an environmentally sound manner and there is no specific government institution responsible for ULAB management. Detailed legislation specifically targeting the management of ULAB does not exist, except for some related statutory instruments such as the Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Management; the Sub-Decree on Water Pollution Control; and the Sub -Decree on Solid Waste Management. Unsound ULAB management has caused concern for the environment and population health in Cambodia and there is an urgent need to improve the management mechanisms based on sound environmental practices, otherwise, harmful and irreparable consequences will occur in the future. The adverse health effects are a particular concern because they become another obstacle in the application of the Poverty Alleviation Program, which is the main policy of the present Royal Government of Cambodia.

The main environmental and health threats arising from current practices are the release of hazardous materials from ULAB and flammable and obnoxious gas emissions. The materials released into the environment include lead oxides, lead sulfates and dilute sulfuric acid. These materials are released during various stages in the life cycle of the lead acid battery (LAB), including recharging, ineffective and inefficient ULAB recycling and residue disposal. These “unfriendly” activities are all contributors to the pollution of the soil, aquatic ecosystems, and sometimes, domestic air quality as well.
Besides the LAB recharging and ULAB recycling, the storage of ULAB in homes, workplaces and children’s playground areas has resulted in large amounts of lead and acidic substances accumulating in places readily accessible to young children and worker’s families. These small stockpiles might be a risk to them and the local communities.

The Kingdom of Cambodia was awarded a support project in 2003 from the Secretariat of Basel Convention (SBC), namely “The Environmentally Sound Management of ULAB in Cambodia”. It was anticipated that this project would be implemented over a period of 9 months (01 December 2003 to 31 August 2004) under the close cooperation and assistance of the International Lead Management Center (ILMC). The survey of ULAB and its adverse effects in some cities and provinces is part of the work plan of the project.

Project documents:

• Terminal Report
• National Workshop’s Report on the Inventory of Used Lead Acid Batteries in Cambodia, 13-14 May 2004, Juliana Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• National Seminar's Report on the Dissemination of the Project Operational Outcomes on the Environmentally Sound Management of Used Lead Acid Batteries in The Kingdom of Cambodia, 4 April 2005, Juliana Hotel, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Technical Report on the Status of Used Lead Acid Battery Management in Kingdom of Cambodia (prepared by Project Team Department of Environmental Pollution Control, Ministry of Environment), Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2004

Asia-Pacific Regional Centre for Hazardous Waste Management Training and Technology Transfer (Basel Convention Regional Centre in China (BCRC China)) implemented the project entitled “New partnership with local authorities for the environmentally sound management of hazardous and other wastes in urban areas (Municipality Project)” for 2003-2004 under the Strategic Plan of the Basel Convention. This project was funded by the Basel Convention Trust Fund.

Municipality Project aimed to develop a new partnership for local hazardous waste mechanisms on the environmentally sound management, namely Type II Agreement (public-private partnership) between all stakeholders on hazardous waste management. BCRC China especially targeted to develop Type II Agreement in Qingdao, P.R.China, which is one of the industrial and organizational cities in China. Qingdao faces various environmental issues, e.g. hazardous waste management, wastewater treatment, etc. BCRC China has assisted Qingdao to establish Type II Agreement for hazardous waste
management and E-waste management. This approach was one of the first instances to have established Type II Agreement in Asia and the Pacific region and good instance to undertake hazardous waste management by a public-private partnership.

Project documents:

• Terminal Report
• Proceedings of the National Forum
• Regional Forum