E-Waste Collection Programs

Did you know electronic manufacturers are legally required to recycle a part of what they sell later? I have been researching on this topic for sometime now and found that if a company sold, say, 100 tonnes of ACs or phones 6–7 years ago, they’re asked to collect 60 tonnes (60%) of that back and recycle it responsibly (𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘌-𝘞𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 (𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵) 𝘙𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴, 2022) This target will further increase to 70% and 80% in subsequent years. Sounds fair, right? But imagine the headache for the manufacturers: ❓ How do they track lakhs of old electronic items sitting in homes and offices? ❓ How do they convince people to give them up? ❓ How do they build a pan-India logistics + recycling infra for this? For most brands, this is a compliance nightmare. I was recently deep-diving into Attero for their rare-earth recycling work, and that’s when I came across Selsmart's model, which is their own D2C platform. And it is exactly solving this gap. Selsmart helps brands: 🟢 Run exchange programs where consumers trade old electronic items for value. 🟢 Handle the entire pickup-to-recycling process via their tech platform. 🟢 Turn what was once just a legal burden into an actual sales funnel, because when customers get good value for old products, they’re far more likely to buy a new one. For consumers, it’s a win too. Instead of dumping an old fridge or phone with a random scrap dealer, you can hand it over into a responsible channel and get cash, vouchers, or discounts back. Honestly, it’s a smart way of making compliance fuel business growth, while fixing one of the biggest waste problems we have. Not everything “green” has to come at a cost. Sometimes it just takes rethinking the system.

The situation: Awareness is low, complexity is high and the economics, tight.    When such precision is presented, you can expect a strong solution. I’m talking about the Yalla Return Recycling Program, which was launched in Dubai & Abu Dhabi at the start of 2023. I had a chance to visit the project when I visited Dubai recently in connection with COP28.        This app-based system empowers individuals to sort waste better, recycle more, and earn rewards, while providing insights on the effectiveness of their sorting efforts and their impact on the environment. Reportedly, the first system in the region that exchanges rewards for recyclables. Nearest collection points are easily locatable, and smart bags and bins are manufactured inhouse. Recyclables that are collected and sorted are traceable via the QR-coded smart bags and documented on blockchain.       Technology, engagement and awareness are at the core of this deceptively simple model that will eventually reach more than 1.5 million households – highrise and landed – and supermarkets across Dubai and Abu Dhabi.       Yalla Return, developed by UAE-based social enterprise Nadeera Technologies (Rabih E.), is already transforming the waste management and recycling reality and is one of the first projects the Alliance to End Plastic Waste is supporting in the MENA region.        Find out more here: https://yallareturn.com/   #endplasticwaste #collaboration #CatalysingImpact #circulareconomy 

Singapore is taking a leadership role among in efforts to tackle e-waste, reports Abhishyant Kidangoor. The disposal and recycling of electrical and electronic waste is a huge problem in land-starved Singapore, which generates an estimated 60,000 metric tons of e-waste annually. Legislation enacted by Singapore’s government in 2019 puts the onus on producers to collect used electrical appliances and electronic goods and send them to sorting and recycling facilities. At the community level, a volunteer-driven initiative called Repair Kopitiam relies on an army of tech-savvy volunteers who work out of community centers to repair people’s old appliances and electronics. E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world; studies estimate e-waste generated annually will increase from 50 million metric tons today to 120 million by 2050, so lessons learned from Singapore’s groundbreaking law could guide other nations and communities around the globe to deal effectively with e-waste. https://lnkd.in/d9G9GD8N

Chile’s WEEE & Battery Regulation Under Chile’s progressive 2016 Extended Producer Responsibility law (known as the REP Law by its Spanish acronym for EPR), the government was expected to issue specific decrees setting the targets and associated obligations for producers and importers of several end-of-life products: electric and electronic products, batteries, lubricant oils, packaging and packing, and tires. For some, like packaging, the EPR target-setting decree and other important regulatory details have been out for several years. Others, like lubricants and tires, were more recently covered. But WEEE (waste electric and electronic products) and batteries lingered unregulated. In the last two weeks, the Ministry of Environment released an approved version of the WEEE and battery EPR decree. Last week, that same version cleared another hurdle in the final stretch toward enactment: it was approved by the Council of Ministers for Sustainability and Climate Change. The approved text now moves on for more approvals in the Executive Branch, signature by the President, and finally publication. Only after final publication can we say for certain that we have a WEEE and Battery Regulation for Chile – but we are tantalizingly close even if this final stage can take months in some cases. The agency-approved version sets out the collection and management targets for both batteries and WEEE, generally, and by specific categories. It also sets out details on the individual and collective management plans, among other obligations. The general category of WEE and batteries are subject to collection targets ranging upward from 3% the first year to 45% from the tenth year onward. Notably, the First Year target set out above would not apply until two years after enactment of the decree to give companies time to get up to speed. Other targets are provided for specific subcategories of WEEE such as refrigerators and air conditioners or photovoltaic panels. As for consumers, the goal is to get them hand over their end-of-life products for proper management. To encourage collection, producer management systems will be expected to set up collection stations in towns throughout the country based on the size of the population (more in larger towns), coordinate twice-a-year household collection efforts, and install collection stations in the stores that sell covered products (if of a certain size). Chile’s WEEE and Battery Decree is close to publication after a long regulatory process. Companies that make or sell this vast range of covered products into Chile need to take note of their upcoming obligations. #WEEE #batteries #electronics #recycling #extendedproducerresponsibility #productstewardship #waste #latinamerica #melonlatam