This document provides an overview of a training on electronic waste (e-waste) management. It defines e-waste and discusses why it is a concern, focusing on the hazardous substances contained in e-waste and the risks of informal recycling. The document reviews global and national e-waste quantities and flows, as well as opportunities and challenges of e-waste management in Egypt. It then summarizes the objectives and components of the Medical and Electronic Waste Management project aimed at improving e-waste disposal in Egypt through developing regulatory frameworks, awareness campaigns, and introducing best practices.

1. 1
Medical and Electronic waste
Management project
21-22 May 2019
ToT
E-waste management
Eng. Hoda Shakra, Technical officer, GEF-UNDP project
Empowered Lives.
Resilient nations.
Arab Republic Of Egypt
Ministry Of Environment

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Agenda
1 • What is E-waste?
2
• Why E-waste is a concern?
3 • E-waste management
4 • How much E-waste is there?
5 • E-waste in Egypt
6 • MEWM project

3. What Is E-waste?
All items of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and its parts
that have been discarded by its owner as waste without the intent of
re-use (Step Initiative 2014).
= WEEE: Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
= electronic waste
= e-waste

4. E-waste from which appliances?

5.  Hazardous substances
 informal recycling
 illegal export and import
Why is e-waste a concern?

6. Composition of E-waste fractions
Source: SWICO/SENS/SLRS Technical Report 2015

7. Composition of e-waste fractions:
focusing on the 1% harmful substances
Source: SWICO/SENS/SLRS Technical Report 2015

8. Heavy metals in e-waste fractions:
focusing on the 1% harmful substances

9. Heavy metals in e-waste fractions:
focusing on the 1% harmful substances

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POPs/Upops in e-waste fractions:
focusing on the 1% harmful substances

11. Impact of Improper management of E-
waste on Environment
Air
Water
Soil

12. Impact of Improper management of E-
waste on Health
Lead
Mercury
Cadmium
POPs
• One of the top ten chemicals or groups of
chemicals of major public health concern.
• Toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and
immune systems, and on lungs, kidneys, skin and
eyes.
• Attacks the brain and central nervous system to cause coma
convulsions and even death.
• Mental retardation and behavioral disorders in children.
• Classified as a human carcinogen.
• Toxic effects on the kidney, the skeletal and the
respiratory systems,
• Increase cancer risk,
• Reproductive disorders, alteration of the
immune system, neurobehavioral impairment,
• Geno toxicity and increased birth defects.

13. The problematic informal sector
• Informal recyclers focus on
valuable fractions in e-waste
and dump non-valuable
fractions.
Material
Markets
Local
Dumping
Non-Valuable Fractions
Informal
Collectors
Valuable
Fractions
Informal
recyclers
E-waste
End
user
Formal
collection /
treatment
• Some formal and approved
recyclers may already exist
but volumes are often low.
Source: Alliance for e-waste solutions in Africa 2014

14. Source: Dr. Federico Magalini
Brescia PhD Course
Waste Resources
Polluting soil, water and air
Human Health Consequences
Lacking technologies
Lacking Legislative Framework
Preventing fair local business
Don’t consider it “just a local problem” !!
The problematic informal sector:
Worldwide

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• Between 250,000 tonnes and 1.3 million tonnes of used electrical
products are shipped out of the EU every year, mostly to west
Africa and Asia, “European Environment Agency”.
• Although it is legal to export discarded goods
to poor countries if they can be reused or
refurbished, much is being sent to Africa or
Asia under false pretences, says Interpol.
“Much is falsely classified as ‘used goods’
although in reality it is non-functional. It is
often diverted to the black market and
disguised as used goods to avoid the costs
associated with legitimate recycling.
Illegal e-waste export from
developed countries

16. Environment
SocietyEconomy
Energy saving for using recycled
materials is a significant
compared to extraction from
their virgin materials.
production of 1 kg aluminum
saves 95% of the energy
required for primary production
and prevents the creation of 2
kg of CO2 emissions
Sorting and processing
recyclables alone sustain 10
times more jobs than land
filling or incineration.
For example, computer reuse
and recycling creates 296 jobs
for every 10,000 tons
The concentration of
precious metals in E-waste
is usually much higher
than the concentration of
precious metals in ores.
In 2014 e-mining yielded
300 tonnes of gold which
was 11% of the total
global gold production of
2770 tonnes
Why is e-waste a concern?

17. E-waste Recycling Chain

18. Opportunity of
proper E-waste management
Social gain:
- large number of green jobs at all skill levels
- better health and lower occupational hazards, higher and more regular
incomes
Environmental gain:
- secondary raw material gained (such as gold, copper, steel, aluminum)
- avoided remediation costs of contaminated sites
- feedstock to other industries e.g.. steel, aluminum, plastic and encourages
green industrial development
Economic gain:
- improves government finances through higher taxes and lower costs for
municipal bodies for waste disposal
- attracts investment and technology

19. Opportunity cost
of Improper E-waste management
Social cost:
- direct social cost of low income from low quality fractions due to inefficient,
substandard and hazardous processes
- indirect social cost of poor health, child labor, intermittent income, smoke,
smell
Environmental cost:
- emissions that degrade soil, water and air resulting in contamination in the
food chain
- Inefficient recycling processes result in unrecoverable material losses and
need for more primary resources
Economic cost:
- lost intrinsic value of e-waste by the formal economy (estimated > 100
Mio USD /year in Egypt), and thus a net loss in tax revenues for the
government
- low investment in installing recycling

20. How much E-waste is there?
Source: The global E-waste monitor 2017

21. Reasons for growth in e-waste
Shorter lifespan
Rapid changes in technology, new type of equipment’s
Changes in media (tapes, software, MP3)
GDP growth
Falling prices

22. Source: The global E-waste monitor 2017
How much E-waste is there?

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Source: The global E-waste monitor 2017
E-waste in Africa

24. E-waste in Egypt
 Egypt is among top three African
countries with highest E-waste
generation
 Between 2015 and 2019, the stock of
Equipment (ICT) in Egypt would
increase by around 6%, rising from
756,000 tons to 800,000 tons.
 The flow of WEEE would increase by
around 15.7%, rising from 73,000
tons/year in 2015 to 85,000 tons/year
in 2019, indicating an annual WEEE
mass flow increase of 3.14%.

25. 58%
19%
23%
private sector public sector households
Sources of E-waste in Egypt

26. E-waste Flow in Egypt

27. Stakeholder Assessment
Formal Sector

28. Stakeholder Assessment
Informal Sector
E-waste
recycler

29. Laws & Regulations: Develop short and succinct law on the disposal of obsolete
electrical equipment as a type of waste, and recognize it with a term such as
WEEE/WEEE.
Collection: Enforce licensing and EHS regulation requirement on
collectors/recyclers participating in auctions for WEEE from governmental sector
and enterprises.
Recycling & Treatment: Empower the formal sector through trainings, technical
and financial scheme. Design a business models for informal sector and incentives
through better prices. Encourage civil society and development NGOs to prioritize
WEEE recycling sector. Awareness and Education: Conduct mass awareness
campaigns supported by booklets and manuals on WEEE.
IMS: Require governmental institutions affiliated with WEEE industry to adopt
digital format of information management and digital based documentation.
EEE Producers/Retailers: integrate end producer/end distributer responsibility in
legal framework with respect to WEEE
Recommendation

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Medical and Electronic waste
management project

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MEWM project
The Government of Egypt, represented by the Ministry of Environment
(MOE) in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MoFA) and
the technical support of the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) has succeeded in obtaining a new package of grants from the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) to implement A five years project (started in May
2016) entitled.
Protect human health and the environment from unintentional
releases of POPs
originating from incineration and open burning of health care- and
electronic waste

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Project objective
 Protect human- and environmental health by reducing releases of POPs
and other hazardous releases (e.g. mercury, lead, etc.) resulting from the
unsound management of healthcare and electronic wastes by provision
of an integrated institutional and regulatory framework and
demonstrating and promoting BAT & BEP to soundly manage and dispose
of such wastes through:
1. Improving the regulatory system and enhancing its enforcement
2. Raising awareness on POPs
3. Establishing the capacity for safe handling and transport
4. Improving disposal of POPs containing waste

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Electronic waste Management
Component

34. 34
Strategy

35. Work Pillars
Replication of project results at
international, regional, National level
National mapping
National
policy/
Regulatory
framework
Capacity
Building/
Awareness
raising
Introduction
of BAT/BEP
6

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Thank you