MOBILE PHONE PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE (MPPI)
OUTCOME OF THE 3ND MEETING
OF THE
MOBILE PHONE WORKING GROUP (MPWG)
GENEVA, 15-16 MARCH, 2005
Participants:
Mr. Marco Buletti, Switzerland (chair)
Mr. Eelco Smit, LG Electronics
Mr. Masaya Okuyama, Japan
Ms. Helena Castren, Nokia
Ms. Margareta Appelberg, Sweden
Ms. Zubrina Lone, Orange
Ms. Francoise Salame, Switzerland
Mr. Peter Hine, Panasonic
Mr. Paul Garnier, Switzerland
Mr. Georg Niedermeier, Siemens
Mr. Bob Tonetti, USA
Mr. Paul Hamilton, Sharp
Mr. Chuck Ashley,USA
Mr. Ramon Arratia, Vodafone
Mr. Benoit Sicotte, Bell Canada
Mr. Christian Hageluken, Umicore
Mr. Luc Perrouin, France Telecom
Ms. Sachiko Kuwabara-Yamamoto, SBC
Mr. Pierre Portas, SBC
Ms. Nicole Dawe, SBC
Mr. John Myslicki, Consultant-SBC
1. Welcome and Introductions
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The chair of the MPWG, Marco Buletti, welcomed everyone to the 3rd face to
face meeting. In particular he welcomed telecom operators (Bell Canada and
France Telecom/Orange) as new members. Furthermore, he introduced Mr.
Pierre Portas as the new Deputy Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the
Basel Convention. He also welcomed Umicore as a new observer.
The Executive Secretary, Ms. Sachiko Kuwabara-Yamamoto also welcomed
everyone on behalf of the Secretariat, and indicated that this initiative is very
important in the context of the Basel Convention. She added that the
Secretariat is particularly pleased to have pilot projects on the collection and
treatment schemes to be launched as part of environmentally sound
management which is one of the pillars of the Basel Convention. She
mentioned that the seventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP
VII) adopted a number of decisions dealing with partnerships and pledged
significant amount of resources towards this effort. It created a senior post
within the Secretariat to coordinated resource mobilization and partnership
activities. In the ministerial statement Parties encouraged everyone to move
from remedial measures towards preventive ones, and to adopt partnership
approach for a number of waste streams such as: POP wastes, e-waste,
household waste, lead acid batteries and hospital wastes. In order to achieve
results, private/ public partnerships are important initiatives. Finally, she
informed the group of the G8 meeting in Tokyo in April of this year where 3
Rs will be part of the ministerial conference agenda. The Secretariat will be
organizing a side event on e-waste for countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
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2. Outcome of COP VII meeting (side event and COP VII Decision)
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The chair summarized the outcome of the side event during COP VII, and
informed the group of the decision on MPPI that was adopted during COP VII.
He mentioned that Parties agreed that the overall Guidance document, which
will be a summary of individual project reports, will be provisionally approved
by the Basel Convention Open-Ended Working group (OEWG) and eventually
by COP VIII in late 2006. The individual Guidelines/reports are to be
submitted to this group, MPWG for approval, so that they could be
implemented quickly.
It was recognized that there is still a strong need for more developing countries
to participate in the work of the MPPI.
The chair indicated that Geneva Permanent missions are being kept informed
of this initiative, and that there was a good attendance by developing countries
at the side event during COP VII.
3. Membership of the Mobile Phone Working Group
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Bell Canada is a member of the MPWG.
France Telecom/Orange is a member of the MPWG.
Secretariat to continue to contact other network carriers to invite them to join
the MPWG.
The draft declaration was revised by the Secretariat for the purposes of the
telecom operators, as requested during the 2nd MPWG meeting, and was
circulated for comments. A number of comments were made during the
meeting and some telecom operators indicated that they would like to submit
additional comments to the Secretariat. It will be finalized and be ready for
signature by new members during the 4th meeting of the Basel OEWG to be
held in Geneva on July 4-8, 2005.
4. Review of the Work Programme
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It was agreed to update the work programme by extending the deadline until
2006.
The various project dates will also be adjusted.
It was mentioned that projects 4.1B, C and D will not be initiated, as agreed to
during the last MPWG teleconference. It was decided that awareness raising
should be part of individual project reports.
5. Progress Reports - individual project groups
Project chairs, or their representatives, made presentations on the progress of each
project under the MPPI. They all indicated that deliberations are on-going, and
that different issues are being discussed to ensure consistency between different
projects, and to ensure that issues of concern have been resolved. References
made within these minutes to activities in each project group are for guidance
purpose only. To determine the exact activity status, reference should be made to
the individual project groups, and their meeting reports.
Project 1.1 - Refurbishment
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 On behalf of the chair, Geoff Thompson from Australia, John Myslicki
provided an update on project 1.1, indicating that it has completed its work
and the draft report was posted on the Basel website in October of last year for
comments. Comments that have been received were submitted to the chair of
this project group for consideration.
 John mentioned that the group was tasked to develop a guideline on
refurbishment of used mobile phones to be used by refurbishment facilities
and by those that buy and sell refurbished phones. It could also be used by
telecom operators, manufacturers, environmental and other regulatory
agencies, community groups and consumers.
 The report deals with the following issues: product handling & refurbishment
(topics such as: storage, cleaning, disassembly, soldering, reassembly,
software use); management of components and materials removed from used
mobile phones; administrative measures (such as: record keeping, regulatory
authorization, personnel training, inspection and monitoring); and remarketing
of refurbished mobile phones (which includes: compliance with operational
standards and import requirements, labelling).
Project 2.1 - Collection and Transboundary Movement
 On behalf of the chair, Joachim Wuttke from Germany, John Myslicki
provided an update on Project 2.1 activities. He indicated that this project is
not as advanced as others, but is making a good progress.
 It has developed a questionnaire which has been posted on Basel website for
input by Parties, Signatories and stakeholders. The purpose of the
questionnaire is to seek experience and clarification on classification, available
regulations, collection mechanisms, transboundary movement monitoring
and/or control of used and end-of-life mobile phones.
 A second questionnaire was prepared, soliciting information on evaluation
and/or testing of used mobile phones. It will be posted on Basel website by the
end of March.
 A draft report was circulated to the Project Group on February 22nd, 2005 for
review. A next draft, which will include recommendations, to be circulated by
March 31, prior to the next teleconference, which is scheduled for April 11th.
Once finalized, it will be circulated to this group for review and approval.
 This project group was tasked to develop a guideline/report on best practice
for collection of end-of-life mobile phones, and to provide guidance on rules
applicable to transboundary movement of end-of-life mobile phones. The
report will contain the following issues: collection (topics such as: collection
methods , management at collection points, government regulations applicable
to collection, and financing of collection systems); transboundary movement
(topics such as: Basel transboundary movement rules, definitions,
classification, and a decision tree to determine what transboundary rules to
apply).
Project 3.1 - Material Recovery & Recycling
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 Francoise Salame from Switzerland, co-chair of the project 3.1, provided an
update on project 3.1 activities.
 This project group was tasked to develop a guidance document, identifying
recycling technologies for environmentally sound management of end-of-life
mobile phones and to give recommendations for future development and
investment in recycling infrastructure.
 The draft report was finalized last year and it was posted on the Basel website
in September of 2004 for comments. The report deals with: characterization of
mobile phones, environmental concerns related to the environmentally sound
management of end of life mobile phones, environmentally sound recycling
practices-general facility guidelines, and investment in new recycling
capacities.
 Francoise mentioned that within the group there were some interesting
discussions on different processes used for the environmentally sound
recycling and recovery of end-of-life mobile phones. One group favoured
shredding and separating recoverable materials, in particular plastics, prior to
smelting the remainder to recover precious metals while other group favoured
direct smelting of whole mobile phones without prior shredding and using
plastic as a source of fuel.
 Some comments have been received on the draft report and the project group
plans to have a teleconference to deal with these comments. Once the report
has been finalized it will be submitted to this group for review and approval.
Project 4.1 Design Considerations
 On behalf of the chair, Julie Rosenbach from USEPA, Bob Tonetti presented
an update on project 4.1 activities.
 The project group developed a draft guidance on the environmental design of
mobile phones including: evolution of mobile phone design (dramatic
reduction in weight and changes in battery chemistry, governmental mandates
and industry responses (EU’s WEEE, RoHS Directives and customer
environmental demands)
 It prepared a draft guidance document which includes six recommendations:
1. Eliminate waste caused by unnecessary transmission technology
incompatibility.
2. Eliminate waste caused by unnecessary hardware incompatibility.
3. Life cycle energy use should be further reduced.
4. Mobile phones should be better designed for reuse and recycling.
5. Reduce or eliminate toxic substances.
6. Adopt life cycle thinking.
 The report was posted on the Basel website last year for comments. All
comments have been taken into account with exception of recommendation #
2, which deals with elimination of waste caused by unnecessary hardware
incompatibility.
Some participants mentioned that the project 2.1 report and the overall guidance
document should include some statements on social values of having project 2.1
and 2.2 implemented in developing countries.
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Finally, it was mentioned that one of the comments made was on the health
impacts as a result of electromagnetic field/radiation. The following text was
circulated for comments,
“During our discussions on collection and transboundary movement of used
and end-of-life mobile phones, it was mentioned that some data show
concerns of radiation from ordinary mobile phone use and handling. It was
recognized that more studies, by health experts, on this issue are needed to
establish definitive proof. Also, it was noted that studies on this issue are
being carried out by world health organizations.”
It was agreed that additional comments are to be send to the Secretariat. Once
finalized and approved it will be included as a footnote in the overall Guidance
Document.
6. Project 4.1- Report’s recommendation #2
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Bob Tonetti introduced the recommendation # 2 (Eliminate waste caused by
unnecessary hardware incompatibility) and the text of this recommendation
was circulated to MPWG for consideration. It was agreed that industry
members will review this recommendation and provide comments, any
suggested changes to the text to the Secretariat.
One of the manufacturers indicated that this is an important issue, and that it is
being currently discussed in Europe.
7. Pilot Projects on Collection and Treatment Schemes for Used
Mobile Phones
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France Telecom made a presentation on their project dealing with mobile
phones in Senegal. The main objective of their Mobile Back Senegal
Project is to support the momentum of local development, to contribute to
the preservation of the environment, to promote sustainable development
and to participate in reducing the digital divide. There are different phases
of their project: starting from setting up structures for the transfer of skills;
to launching of promotional campaign; to setting up collection points,
recycling and sorting; and processing of products derived from recycling.
One of the sub-objectives is to be able to certify local repair shops as
operating in accordance with ISO standard. Mr.Perrouin mentioned that it
is important to develop a business plan before launching any pilot projects.
An outline of the project along with details on its set-up was made
available to MPWG. Mr. Perrouin indicated that the cost of this Senegal
project would be approximately 500,000 Euros, and that they don’t expect
to recover a great deal of used phones in the first two years of operation.
Nevertheless, they do hope that after 2 years of operation, it will be
possible to determine financial viability of the project.
Vodafone also informed the group of their plan to set up a pilot project in
Egypt, and hope to launch this pilot project by the end of this month. Mr.
Arratia indicated that South Africa and Kenya are also of interest to
Vodafone.
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Telecom operators indicated their strong support for initiating concrete
pilot projects. However - like the manufacturers – they said that such
projects must be realistic and viable. All agreed to this.
 It was mentioned that most of the repairable and reusable mobile phones
will not be available during collection schemes as these are given to
relatives and friends. The only type of mobile phones that would be
collected would be scrap mobile phones that is only useful for recycling.
 A document on initiation of pilot projects on collection and treatment
schemes for used mobile phones was introduced which identified: an
objective for this project, provided project summary, identified regional
partners, criteria for selecting countries for pilot projects, a way forward
and timing. This paper was distributed as a basis for discussion.
 After extensive discussion, the chair indicated that the main objective of
these pilot projects is to raise awareness in different UN regions on
environmentally sound management of used and end-of-life mobile phones
so that such phones can be diverted from landfills. However a number of
industry members indicated that they would prefer a step by step approach
and make good use of the current projects being initiated by France
Telecom and Vodafone. The chair agreed to prepare a revised paper that
would list a step by step approach which the group wanted to see. This
paper to identify information, collection phase, project design phase, and
project initiation phase. It is to be distributed prior to discussions on the
second day. Once it was tabled the group felt that step by step approach
should be modified in a way that certain activities could be initiated
concurrently or start at different phases. The secretariat was asked to revise
the project proposal based on discussions and circulate to participants for
comments during the week of March 21st. The participants agreed to
provide comments within the week to Nicole Dawe and to with cc John
Myslicki and Marco Buletti. This paper, concerning the way forward for
pilot projects, will be reworked according to comments received and then
distributed to the MPWG to be further discussed at the teleconference on
May 4th (see next meetings).
 There is an expectation by Basel Parties that MPPI moves away from
discussions and preparation of guidelines to concrete on the ground
projects.
 It was mentioned that a number of parties in different UN regions have
expressed interest in hosting pilot projects on collection of used mobile
phones. In African Region: South Africa, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Egypt; in
Asian Region: China, Thailand, Vietnam; in Latin America and Caribbean
Region: Argentina, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago; in Eastern and
Central Europe/ Region: Russia, Romania.
 It was mentioned that some contacts should be made with those countries
that expressed interest in hosting pilot projects to collect some basic
information and to narrow the list to 3 countries (one in the Latin America
and Caribbean region, one in the Asian region, and one in the
Eastern/Central Europe/Caucasus region). As the MPWG heard there are
already 2 projects being planned for the African region by operators.
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It was mentioned and agreed that some financial resources will be needed
to carry out this exploratory data collection activities which could cost
approximately US$50,000. This phase of the project could take about 12
months and would consist of the following activities: data collection,
project design, identification of project outcomes and objectives,
development of business plans, and development of an awareness raising
programme.
8. Financial Matters
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The paper on financial issues was distributed, which identifies resources
that were allocated and spent by Parties and Industry in 2003 and 2004. It
also identifies new resources committed by Parties and Signatories during
the last meeting of the Conference of Parties, COP VII. Furthermore, it
states that Parties created a senior post within the Secretariat to be
responsible for the coordination of partnership and resource mobilization
activities in 2005-2006
As agreed to during the 2nd MPWG meeting, resources will be required to
plan and initiate pilot projects dealing with collection and treatment of
used/end-of- life mobile phones. Furthermore, funds will be required for
printing of various reports that will be finalized and approved by this
group. It was mentioned that the overall guidance document, that is to be
approved by COP VIII, will have to be translated into 6 UN languages and
sufficient quantities printed for those Basel Convention Parties that have a
limited access to the internet. An effort will be made to have all reports
available in electronic format. The individual project reports or guidelines ,
which will be only approved by the MPWG are to be printed only in
English unless the MPWG decided otherwise.
Nicole Dawe will prepare an estimate of the cost for translation and
printing of the overall Guidance document, as well for individual project
reports or guidelines.
9. Other Matters
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None identified
10. Next Meetings
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A teleconference has been scheduled for May 4th during which the revised
pilot project outline, declaration to be signed by telecom operators, and
financial issues will be discussed. Bob Tonetti from USEPA agreed to make
arrangement for a 2 hour teleconference. He will reserve 30 telephone lines for
this teleconference.
It was also agreed to have a side event during the OEWG meeting in July. It is
planned for Tuesday July 5th. Also, there may be a possibility for a face to
face meeting of the MPWG in conjunction with the side-event with a hope that
number of developing countries will be able to attend it.
Draft: May 11, 2005