Electrical and electronic equipment when becoming waste (e-waste) such as personal computers, printers, televisions, mobile phones, refrigerators and air-conditioning units is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world today.

E-waste is categorized as hazardous waste due to the presence of toxic materials such as mercury, lead and brominated flame retardants are considered as hazardous waste according to the Basel Convention. E-waste may also contain precious metals such as gold, copper and nickel and rare materials of strategic value such as indium and palladium. These precious and heavy metals could be recovered, recycled and used as valuable source of secondary raw materials. It has been documented that e-wastes are shipped to developing countries where it is often not managed in an environmentally sound manner, thus posing a serious threat to both human health and the environment.

Related EPIs

Chemicals in products

Related people

Llorenc Mila I Canals
I am a generalist environmental scientist passionately driven to reduce the environmental impacts of consumption and production systems. This includes driving the development of tools enabling the comprehensive assessment of environmental impacts of chemicals as they are used in products, over their entire life cycle (i.e. from the extraction of their raw materials, processing and manufacturing into products, their use, maintenance and operation phase, and finally at the end of use their repurposing into new products, or disposal).This kind of assessment helps us guide the selection of suitable alternatives to chemicals of concern while avoiding regrettable substitutions. With a PhD
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Ndeye Fatou NDIAYE
As Chemical Waste Manager I am working on Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Management problem solving skills. I determine the compliance obligations of the environmental business and health -safety at work; I also provide to companies the managerial,
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Leonard Tampushi
Publications on heavy metals in artisanal and small scale gold mining in Kenya in contributed alot on environmental distribution of heavy metals from ASGM.
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Florisvindo Furtado

By contributing to the creation and enforcement of national and international legal framework on chemicals and hazardous wastes as well as the related guidelines for the main industry stakeholders and operators, dealing with chemicals or producing

Feng Wang
I work as a Programme Officer in UNEP in its Paris office. I manage projects in the areas of Life Cycle Thinking, Sustainable Consumption and Production and Circular Economy, to promote resource efficiency and pollution reduction in many sectors such as plastics, electronics, food and chemicals. In my current work, we develop methodologies and tools to quantify the environmental impacts of chemicals, to enable comparison and identification of alternatives.Feng holds a Doctorate Degree from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, on topics of eco-design and waste management of electronics products. Before joining UNEP, I worked as a researcher in
Ran Xie
I am working on sustainable consumption and production and circularity in sectors such as plastics, electronics and textiles.Through my work I aim to ensure chemicals of concern are taken into consideration along the value chains of these sectors, which is also one of the pillars of UNEP's approach to promote circularity.I provide technical support to the GEF-funded project "Circular Economy approaches for the electronics sector in Nigeria". Under this project, I work with Nigerian partners and international stakeholders to promote environmentally sound treatment of hazardous chemicals in e-waste, as well as advocate best practices on the eco-design of electronic products.
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Related projects

Articles of interest

429 resources found

Manuals and toolkits

Sustainable Procurement of Building Materials:A Progressive Approach to Chemicals of Concern

March 2024
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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.

Topics: Chemicals in building products Sustainable Public Procurement
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Factsheets and brochures

Addressing Chemicals of Concern: Key messages and lessons learned

by
SAICM
|
February 2024
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This document summarises lessons learned from the various project activities in three sectors: electrical and electronic equipment (EEE); building and construction; and toys. It also formulates key messages addressed to different stakeholder groups and provides links to guidance and tools developed under the GEF project

Emerging Policy Issues: Chemicals in products Hazardous chemicals in electronics
Topics: Chemicals in electronics Chemicals in toys Eco-innovation Chemicals in building products
Video

Why chemicals matter

February 2024
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The video covers the crucial issues surrounding chemical policies in today's world, the unseen effects of chemicals in everyday life and the global push for policies that foster sustainable practices. The video highlights the challenges and innovative solutions that aim to to protect our environment and health, setting the stage for a greener, safer and sustainable future.

Emerging Policy Issues: Chemicals in products Hazardous chemicals in electronics
Topics: Chemicals in building products Chemicals in electronics Chemicals in toys Eco-innovation
Manuals and toolkits

Guía para la consideración de sustancias químicas de preocupación en el proceso de compras públicas sostenibles de Aparatos eléctricos y electrónicos

November 2023
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Este documento aborda la gestión de sustancias químicas de preocupación y algunos

aspectos de sostenibilidad, incluyendo la circularidad en la compra pública sostenible

(CPS) de los AEE, específicamente de computadores, impresoras y acondicionadores de

aire, proporcionando además una orientación clara a las entidades públicas sobre cómo

incluir criterios técnicos para la adquisición de dichos equipos.

Topics: Sustainable Public Procurement
Country: Colombia
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