WORKING GROUP 10:
ENVIRONMENT & E-WASTE
REPORT TO EACO ASSEMBLY OF
REGULATORS
A presentation made to the Assembly of Regulators
Sheraton Hotel
Kampala, Uganda
22nd – 23rd June 2015
By: Juma Ooro - Chairperson
Members
1. Juma Ooro
2. Nakiguli Helen Cynthia
3. Erasmo A. Mbilinyi
4. Anita Hodari Batamuliza
5. James Kivuitu
6. Didace Ndivyariye
7. Alexis Sinarinzi
8. Florentin Girukwishaka
9. Nehemia Mwenisongole
10. Raynold Mfungahema
11. Virginia Onyara
12. Hermenegilde Ntahomvukiye
13. Godliving Kessy
Chairperson
CA
Vice-Chairperson UCC
1st Rapporteur
TCRA
2nd Rapporteur
RURA
Member
KBC
Member
ARCT
Member
ARCT
Member
ARCT
Member
TCRA
Member
TCRA
Member
MMU
Liaison Manager/HR
Liaison Manager/Reg.
KENYA
UGANDA
TANZANIA
RWANDA
KENYA
BURUNDI
BURUNDI
BURUNDI
TANZANIA
TANZANIA
KENYA
EACO Sectr.
EACO Sectr.
Outline
 Introduction
 Meetings
 Terms of Reference
 Action Plan
 Status of E-waste
 Model Framework
 Green ICTs & Environment
 International and Regional activities
 Awareness
 Private E-waste initiatives
 Recommendations
What does it look like?
Some e-waste from digital
migration!
Background
Challenges
 ICT industry is a major generator of e-waste
 Non-existence of coordinated and specific policies/laws
to guide sustainable and e-waste management.
 Lack of adequate statistics relating to e-waste including
quantities generated.
 Low awareness levels regarding generation, impacts
and management of e-waste.
 No infrastructure/facility available for the disposal of
the hazardous fraction from e-waste
Meetings
• The Working Group held 5 physical meetings in
the two years cycle: 25 – 27 Nov 2013, 5 – 7
March 2014,16 – 17 June 2014, Nov 2014 and
April 2015. The Working Group also had
numerous online discussions within the same
period. The deliberations of these meetings can be
found in the detailed reports already submitted to
the Secretariat.
• The summary reports of these meetings were also
submitted to EXCOM through EACO Secretariat.
Terms of Reference
As adopted in the 20th Congress
• To analyse the level of e-waste in the region and its impact on
humans and the environment.
• To harmonize policies, strategies and regulations on e-waste
management in the region.
• To recommend adoption of green ICT best practices by
stakeholders in the communications sector.
• To recommend national and regional environmentally sound ewaste management systems for the EAC region.
• To develop strategies for public awareness on issues relating to ewaste.
• To recommend strategies for collaboration/cooperation between
National ICT Regulators, National Environmental Management
Authorities and other environmental management Agencies with a
view to establishing and strengthening the e-waste management
systems within the region.
Revised Terms of Reference
The group studied the terms as provided by the 20th Congress and proposed
Changes which were endorsed by the EXCOM and adopted by the 21st
Assembly of Regulators as below:
 To assess management of e-waste and its impacts on the environment in the
region;
 To review and identify drawbacks in the existing policies, strategies, laws,
regulations and guidelines on e-waste management in the region and
recommend for their harmonization;
 To Identify and recommend adoption of green ICTs best practices in the
region;
 To coordinate and follow up the work of the relevant ITU Study Group (s)
and facilitate the development of regional recommendations or
contributions relating to the work of those Study Group(s) or other relevant
international and regional organizations.
 To create public awareness and capacity building on e-waste management
and Green ICT in the region
 Follow-up on work of the EAC Sectoral Committee for Communications
Transport & Meteorology
Request on ToR
• The recommendation of the Assembly of Regulators for
WG10 to consider expanding the scope to include
Electromagnetic effects was deliberated. It was concluded
that the WG has limited resources (time, human and
facilitation) to handle this activity. However, the WG will
consider liaising with other relevant WGs (including WG9
and 11) to progress this matter in the next cycle.
• The recommendation of the Assembly of Regulators for
WG10 to consider sensitive data traces in the memory
components of electronic devices that are redisposed was
noted. WG10 deliberated and concluded that this issue will
be incorporated in its awareness program.
Action Plan
The group formulated the action plan for the 2 years working cycle as in attached report.
The group discussed and agreed on the Action Plan for the two years cycle. The Action
Plan as agreed by the group is presented as Annex IV. The WG still has some items to
progress in the action plan and will therefore review the same for the next two year cycle
Highlights of Activities
 Update Member status on e-waste management
 Compilation of Member states status on e-waste management
 Review Model Framework on E-Waste Management
 To study and identify international best practices on green ICTs
 To participate in ITU-T SG 5 and ITU D SG 1 & 2 activities
 In collaboration with HR committee enhance capacity building on Green ICT and e – waste
management
 Visiting e-Waste Management initiatives in the region and beyond
 To participate in ATU and other regional organisations and submit relevant recommendations to
the group
 To consult stakeholders through workshops and other forums on e-waste management situation
in the region
 To develop strategy for dissemination of information on environment and e-waste management
through media
Country status on e-waste
management
• Members updated the status of e-waste and its
management
with
respect
to
statistics,
quantities/volumes, initiatives, policies and regulations
in their respective countries.
• It was noted that the region has no reliable and
comprehensive data on e-waste management.
Country status…
• The e-waste management action plan has recognized this as
one of its action items and maintains that this will be done
by individual countries. The EACO Secretariat will send
formal letters to regulators on the decision of the 21st
Assembly that the e-waste survey needs to be conducted by
individual countries. For uniformity the Terms of
References (ToR) should be attached to those letters.
• Benchmark with e-waste stakeholders. During the e-waste
management workshop in Nairobi in March 2015 the WG
visited two Recycling plants (WEEE Centre and EACR
facility) and appreciated the recycling processes which
could be adopted in the region.
Dissemination of EACO Model
Framework on E-Waste Management
o The WG shared the model framework with
participants at the e-waste workshop in Nairobi.
The model framework is intended to guide the
member countries in developing and
implementing their specific e-waste management
system. The model is also available at the EACO
website.
o The WG requested the EACO Secretariat to share
the model with EAC. However it was noted that
the model has not been shared.
Green ICTs & Environment
• Review of Best International Practices on Green ICTs
• The WG developed a concept paper on ICTs, Sustainability and
Green economy. The concept paper provided an insight on what the
working group was to consider as activities in relation to Green ICT.
This concept paper was adopted in the 21st Assembly of Regulators,
in June 2014, Arusha, Tanzania.
• Consequently the WG has developed a draft zero information paper
on guidance on greening the EACO member organisations. This
information paper provides guidance (illustrates the vision) of how
the ICT industry/sector in the East African Region can green their
organisations services, operations and products; with priority
beginning with the EACO members (organisations/administrations).
This is still work in progress and will be shared later.
Capacity building on Green ICTs
and E – waste management
• The WG identified the knowledge gap in Green ICT and e-waste
management and indicated the need for additional capacity building for
both the WG members and the relevant stakeholders.
• However, the secretariat indicated the challenge of identifying the
relatively affordable facilitator for e-waste management and an expert in
the field of green ICT. Also, due to other demanding activities during the
period (such as the organization of the sustainable e-waste management
workshop and action plan workshop), the program could not be conducted.
• EACO secretariat is still scouting for affordable experts in e-waste
management in the region. The training is thus planned to be held in
November 2015 in Burundi.
• Regarding capacity building in Green ICT, it is proposed that members gain
capacity through attending regional and international fora on Green ICTs or
benchmarking on countries success stories and best practices such as ITU-T
Green Standard Week.
E-waste management Awareness
•
EACO held a successful workshop on Sustainable e-waste management in the East African region from
18th to 20th March 2015, in Nairobi, Kenya. The workshop was attended by over one hundred participants
including Governments, Policy makers, academia, research institutions, ICT and environmental regulators,
ICT service providers, recyclers, private sector players, etc.
•
This was followed by another workshop from 20th to 22nd April, 2015 in Kigali, Rwanda which formulated
the action plan on e-waste management. The action plan recommend establishment of Steering Committees
at both EACO and National level, which will monitor and evaluate the implementation of the action plan.
•
The various reports can be found elsewhere.
•
The WG will continue to organize similar workshops to enhance awareness.
•
For the successful implementation of the action plan, the WG will require certain resources including
financial support and therefore request EACO secretariat to consider providing such support.
•
The WG request the Assembly to adopt the action plan and the establishment of the Steering Committees.
The Assembly is also requested to forward this to Congress for approval.
Liaison Statements
The WG received a liaison statement from WG1
(Policy and Regulatory Harmonisation)
requesting inputs into the Model ICT Policy. WG
has responded to WG1 to this.
Participation/Contributions in
International and Regional activities
It was noted that there is need for members of
WG10 to continuously and actively participate
and make contributions in International fora
where environmental and e-waste management
issues are discussed.
EACO Secretariat to co-ordinate and facilitate the
WG contributions in such forums.
In the past cycle, WG members participated in
various meetings including: ITU-T SG 5 & 12 in
India and Geneva, Regional Group for Africa in
Senegal, Green Standards Week in China.
Partnering with private E-waste
initiatives
Role role of private sector in e-waste management
activities is important. Thus it is important to
involve them in WG activities.
The WG extended invitations to such
organisations whenever the WG conducted its
activities and it is noted with appreciation that
some of them participated, notably WEEE Centre,
EACR (both from Kenya) and Chilambo Traders
(Tanzania).
The participation of academia was also noted.
Conclusion
• The WG achieved a number of milestones during the two year cycle
as highlighted above. However, there were certain items in the
action plans which were not completed due to various constraints.
The WG is determined to progress the pending items in the next
cycle.
• During the first cycle the WG encountered some challenges
namely:– Limited experts in the region on the subject matter of Green ICT and ewaste
– The few experts available were not affordable
– Time constraints
– Lack of participation of private sector players in WG10 meetings.
– Lack of consistency in participation for some members in the WG
meetings
Next Meeting
The WG proposed to hold its next meeting in
November 2015, in Burundi
Recommendations
 The Assembly of Regulators is requested to note and
adopt the report.
 The WG10 request that the revised ToR be presented to
the Congress for approval.
 Approve Action Plan and seek Congress endorsement
for further action in the next cycle.
 The WG request the Assembly to adopt the e-waste
management action plan and the establishment of the
Steering Committees. The Assembly is also requested
to forward this to Congress for approval.
 EACO to engage the members to ensure consistent
representation in the working groups
Thank you.
Juma Ooro
Chairperson
ooro@cck.go.ke