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This guidance addresses the role that sustainable procurement can play in managing chemicals of concern in electronic and electrical equipment procured across the public sector, during their entire lifecycle. It is primarily addressed to public procurers as well as those responsible for the procurement of waste management solutions at end-of-life for electronics equipment.

This guidance is aimed at helping procurement practitioners implement policies on chemicals management through sustainable procurement approaches and tools such as market dialogue, criteria and ecolabels.

The road map lays out actions and provides guidance on how to fully integrate gender in national chemicals management. These steps are meant to give support and direction to actors engaged in national chemicals management, especially SAICM National Focal Points.

The accompanying workbook helps to prioritize and plan your activities step by step. Additionally, SAICM Focal Points and other stakeholders might be at different stages of capacity development, and priority actions and objectives will differ depending on the individual national context - the workbook, therefore, allows you to develop your specific process of integrating gender.

According to Africa Waste Management Outlook, 125 million tons of municipal solid waste was generated in Africa in 2012, and this amount is expected to double by 2025. Electronic waste (e-waste) is a particularly important and rapidly growing waste stream due to the severe pollution it creates, notably producing mercury, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from flame retardants, dioxins, and furans. This project connects and operationalizes pre-existing elements of a multi-stakeholder Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system in Nigeria. EPR is an innovative policy and financial instrument that requires manufacturers, importers, and retailers of electronic products to be physically and financially responsible for the waste management of their products, but which has thus far struggled to get off the ground in developing countries. Collaborating with a private sector-led Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) on electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) in Nigeria and local and international stakeholders, the project addresses specific gaps identified by each partner, and has developed the Guidance Document for the Implementation of the EPR Programme for the Electrical/Electronics Sector in Nigeria (the Guidance for EPR implementation). The project is helping to design and operate a financially self-sustaining circular economy approach for electronic products in Nigeria.

E-waste collection and recycling is a key source of income for many poor families; however, the informal nature of their operations exacerbates global pollution and toxic health effects. Key lessons learned are connecting and building on existing initiatives to establish a sustainable financing mechanism and management system for e-waste under the Guidance for EPR implementation. At the same time, the project also created opportunities to collaborate with the informal sector, and scaled up efforts to build a circular economy in Nigeria and beyond by collaborating with national and international stakeholders. As a result, the project contributes to reducing global pollution from e-waste, and reducing health impacts on local people in Nigeria. For the long term, the project will contribute to increasing healthy and safer employment in Nigeria, and providing a global model for a circular economy in the electronics sector in developing countries.