GeSI and StEP e-Waste Academy

ICT has tremendous potential to help businesses and societies dramatically reduce their impact on the environment through solutions such as smart grids, buildings and logistical systems. As the ICT industry grows rapidly, retired handsets, servers, computers, and other “e-waste” are entering the waste stream in countries across the world. GeSI aims to build capacity so that these products are disposed of responsibly and material is reused or recycled to the greatest extent possible.

Our vision is for the ICT sector to move from managing risks to encouraging more efficient use and more extensive re-use of materials by viewing e-waste as a valuable resource. Recycling more of the materials in used equipment – including precious metals – reduces environmental impacts from its disposal as well as the need to extract more raw materials from the ground. This, in turn, reduces the associated environmental and social impacts of mining, tying in with our supply chain work on extraction.

To build capacity for e-waste management, particularly in developing countries, GeSI, Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) and the United Nations University Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP) co-organised the first ever GeSI and StEP E-Waste Academy on 25-29 June 2012 in Accra, Ghana. The objective of the event, co-sponsored by GeSI, NVMP Association and United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), was to share existing knowledge and research into effective e-waste management and regulation with policymakers, recyclers and other stakeholders from the West Africa region. To build on this year’s event, organisers plan to conduct an e-waste academy in a different world region in 2013. Several national governments have expressed interest in hosting the event. Further information is available at www.ewasteacademy.org. You may also visit our Facebook or Twitter page. Download a PowerPoint Presentation of the EWA concept.