E-waste: Environmentally sound management of used and end products

Many developing countries and countries with economies in transition suffer from an informal or less-organized small-scale sector that collects used or dead computing equipment for the purposes of repair and re-sale. Many informal and untrained groups collect and recover materials such as copper, gold and plastics from electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) without realizing its negative health impacts on human and on the environment.

E-waste collectors often lack the necessary education and training to properly manage the collection process and materials recovery. Thus, UNDP and in Partner-
ship with the government of Jordan through Ministry of Environment and Secre-
tariat of Basel Convention (SBC) initiated the End of life of computing equipment management and monitoring in action in Jordan, shortly referred to as "E-Waste
Project".

Main Outputs

• Improve collection and materials recovery practices in an environmentally sound manner in Jordan
• Provide technical assistance to project team in developing the national capacities, technologies and skills in relation to e-waste management in Jordan
• Assess and examine the existing e-waste materials regulatory frameworks related to eective control of the e-waste in Jordan including Environmental Sound Management (ESM)
• Inuence decision makers on the gaps in laws and implementations (taking into consideration the Regulatory Impact Assessment).

Achievements

• 420 containers for e-waste collection were distributed in the kingdom to raise awareness
• Carried out a Schools lecture programme throughout the whole country
• Draft the instructions for the management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).