INTERNATIONAL E-WASTE MANAGEMENT NETWORK (IEMN) Karen Pollard ITI Leadership Council Meeting March 14, 2018
IEMN History Typical Workshop Annual Workshops Global Experts Country Days Communication Observations Getting Involved
HISTORY Established in 2011 MOU between Taiwan EPA and US EPA IEMN members are interested government officials from various Countries Platform for sharing issues and best practices in electronics sustainability and management Year round communication
TYPICAL WORKSHOP Workshop is about a week long Three days: Include country updates, expert presentations, new tool introductions and general discussion To date, 12-17 countries typically attend One day: Includes a visit to local recyclers and/or collection program One day: Set aside for the Country Day if selected Country Day may include about 70+ participants
ANNUAL WORKSHOPS 1 st IEMN 2 nd IEMN 3 rd IEMN 4 th IEMN 11 countries 17 countries 14 countries 16 countries El Salvador, Ghana India, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Vietnam Trinidad and Tobago, US and Taiwan Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Ghana,India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago Singapore, US, Philippines and Taiwan Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Ghana,India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, US and Taiwan Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Egypt, Ghana,India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, US and Taiwan 5
ANNUAL WORKSHOPS 5 th IEMN 16 countries 6th IEMN 7th IEMN 12 countries 13 countries Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Philippines, US and Taiwan Argentina, Cambodia, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Peru, Philippines, US and Taiwan Argentina, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Slovakia, Thailand, US and Taiwan 6
GLOBAL EXPERTS Experts from around the world are invited. Examples: 2016 experts: DMZ, Umicore, Dell, ifixit, Sustainable Electronics Recycling International. etc 2017 experts: International Finance Corporation, Yale, Sustainable Electronics Recycling International, Green Crossroads, GIZ, Sofies, UN University, etc Topics have included: policy development, collection capacity, best practices for recycling, CRT markets, financing programs and working with the informal sector, etc
COUNTRY DAYS Host country has the option to hold an e- Waste day for local stakeholders/ local governments Indonesia and Colombia have taken advantage of this extra day Can use invited experts; host country finances the day Colombia invited waste officials; US EPA presented on a number of topics such as recycling of white goods and the TRI program Indonesia invited local e-waste officials and stakeholders. EPA spoke on collection and recycling and hazardous waste laws and how electronics are handled in the US
COMMUNICATION Webinars CRTs Policy development tool Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) Other webinars as appropriate International Environmental Partnership Website Includes information on all IEP programs IEMN Website 2011-2014 Hosted on EPA s website In future: Hosted on Taiwan EPA s website
OBSERVATIONS Working with the informal sector or pickers remains an issue for many countries Electronics reuse industry is robust in these countries, however, scrap from reuse may not get to recycling facilities Financing collection and collecting used electronics continues to be a main issue Much of the used electronics being recycled come from businesses, not consumers Countries have electronics recycling capacity, but not enough used electronics to recycle
GETTING INVOLVED Offer to be an expert. Is your company a leader in circular economy, collection, or material recovery that you could share with IEMN? Lead a collection pilot. What better way to inform any new EPR laws then to show what might work, what doesn t work? Consider joining StEP s Strategic Alliance for IEMN Other ideas
THANK YOU! Karen Pollard EPA s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery 703-308-3948 Pollard.karen@epa.gov Stephanie Adrian EPA s Office of International and Tribal Affairs 202-564-6444 Adrian.stephanie@epa.gov