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This guidance is primarily aimed at public procurers involved in a range of contracting agreements related to building materials and products. This includes the purchase of building materials for construction works, but may also extend to material extraction, manufacturing, building, retrofit, refurbishment, design, interior fit out, and end-of-life demolition or deconstruction processes. There are a variety of roles within the procurement cycle that the guidance can support, from commissioning, category management, tender preparation and evaluation, to contract management.

UNEP's new Eco-innovation Building Materials Supplement was created to respond to the building material sector's need for more guidance in building resilient, competitive, and sustainable business models for SMEs. Designed together with Bioregional, pilot implementation support of the National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) Sri Lanka and to be read alongside UNEP's Eco-innovation Manual, the supplement provides specific examples, learning case studies, and advice on applying the eco-innovation methodology within the building materials value chain.

This case study highlights three main achievements resulting from the EPR pilot that tested potential collection channels, determined local e-waste treatment costs, and promoted environmentally sound e-waste management and gender equality in Nigeria's electronics sector.

1. Setting an EPR financial mechanism by understanding local collection and recycling costs and estimating the EPR fee based on local costs.
2. Reducing the health and environmental risks associated with e-waste management practices by ensuring hazardous materials like mercury and Persistent Organic Pollutants in e-waste are recycled in an environmentally sound manner.
3. Improving the health, security, and safety of waste management workers, including women who face various risks in the sector.

The study concludes with a summary of the next steps and key learnings that emphasize the importance of environ-mentally and socially responsible e-waste management with a focus on gender equality in the sector.

A case study as part of the European Commission's Green Public Procurement resources.  This example from Denmark shows how by using an overarching, centralised procurement strategy across more than 60 municipalities, the Danish government were able to address sustainability hotspots from wooden furniture, by bulk procurement of products that met ambitious sustainability criteria.

The bulk sourcing enabled cost savings, and criteria set ensured that furniture did not contain chemicals of concern identified by both Danish restricted substance lists and the REACH list of substances of very high concern (SVHC).  Products were required to meet higher standards of chemical safety, with dismantling criteria also set to improve circularity.

In recent years the majority of glues used in wood composite boards have been urea-formaldehyde (UF) and phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins.  However, these products may cause human health issues due to off-gassing of formaldehyde, which is recognised by the World Health Organisation as a potential human carcinogen, which can also cause irritation of the eyes, nose, lungs and throat.

However, development of no-added formaldehyde (NAF) glues and resins is a growing area, which not only provide a safer indoor environment, but also can reduce the use of fossil-based feedstocks, and are biodegradable.  This case study looks at how NAF adhesives based on abundant soybean feedstocks, taking inspiration from processes in nature can address this chemical hotspot, and how the product was intially researched by Dr. Kaichang Li of Oregon State university, and came to market through collaborations with Columbia Forest Products and Hercules.  Soy-based adhesives can now demonstrate cost-competitiveness with UF adhesives, and are being widely procured for buildings seeking to achieve complaince with air quality regulations and higher building rating scores.

Strengthening legal efforts in Nigeria is crucial for successful implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) systems. By having the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency of Nigeria (NESREA) having the enforcing EPR laws create a more sustainable and accountable e-waste sector.

Developing and updating EPR legistlations helps clarify the different responsibilities and enforce producers to comply with their obligations and responsibility. However, effective EPR implementation will require further law enforcement measures.
The case study outlines two achievements of the "Circular Economy Approaches for The Electronics Sector In Nigeria" project towards establishing a stronger legal system in Nigeria:

• The development and gazette of the EPR Guidance document in 2020: the guidance defines the roles and responsibilities of the key public and private stakeholders, the product categories to be covered by the EPR scheme, and the collection and recycling targets.
• The amendment of the National Environmental (Electrical and Electronic Sector) Regulations in 2022: which legally requires EPR subscriptions and prohibits suboptimal treatment of e-waste.

The study concludes with a summary of key lessons and next steps, emphasizing the importance of enforcing EPR laws, engaging stakeholders, raising public awareness, and collaborating with regional and international partners.

The establishment of an EPR database is critical in operationalising and formalising the management of EPR-related data. The EPR database allows e-waste flow tracking and EPR fee and recovery rate calculation while ensuring producers' information confidentiality and helping prevent counterfeiting activities.

The case study outlines the project’s efforts towards establishing this automation system in Nigeria in the following areas:

• Developing the EPR database: to manage producers’ market share data, calculate and collect the EPR fees.
• Registering Producers and products in the database: To ensure electronic and electrical producers are registered and to oversee the EPR operation.
• Securing the database: Enhancing producers' trust in the database and ensuring its confidentiality.

The study concludes with a summary of next steps and key learnings, emphasizing the importance of law enforcement, database registration, secure systems for producers, and encouraging the participation of producers in the database registration.

Green public procurement specification for general construction and flooring adhesives. The goal of the specification is to set to set a hierarchy of flooring covering preferences, establish minimum environmental goals for flooring installations in state properties, and provide recommendations for additional aspects of flooring performance, cleaning and maintenance for a healthier indoor environment.