ISRI’s Director of Government and International Affairs Eric Harris recently participated in back-to-back Basel Convention meetings regarding the PACE (Partnership for Action for Computing Equipment) and the Expert Group on Environmentally Sound Management (EWG-2) in Jakarta, Indonesia.
ISRI’s Director of Government and International Affairs Eric Harris recently participated in back-to-back Basel Convention meetings regarding the PACE (Partnership for Action for Computing Equipment) and the Expert Group on Environmentally Sound Management (EWG-2) in Jakarta, Indonesia. PACE is a multi-stakeholder public-private partnership that provides a forum to tackle environmentally sound management of used and end-of-life computing equipment. The ninth PACE meeting’s primary focus provided updates on pilot projects and outlined the future of the group. How best to move forward remains uncertain as the group finalizes its work. An Ad-hoc group, led by Basel Convention Regional Center representatives, is developing a concept paper on how PACE could evolve from policy development to education and sharing and implementation of the technical guidelines developed for environmentally sound reuse and recycling of computing equipment. The concept paper will be taken up at the next Open-Ended-Working Group (OEWG9) meeting in September.
The EWG-2 gathered to further develop and define what is “environmentally sound management” (ESM), a core concept within the Basel Convention treaty. Since the last meeting, members have been developing a number of practical ESM manuals and fact sheets that include: (1) Principles/General Rules and Model Legislation; (2) Certification schemes; (3) Terminology; (4) Prevention; (5) Safety and Insurance/Liability; and (6) Licenses and Permits. These fact sheets were developed as user-friendly, one-pagers for: mercury; SLABS (spent lead acid batteries) and ULABS; WEEE (including white and brown goods); tires; medical and healthcare waste; and end-of-life vehicles.
The EWG-2 drafted a potential work program that focuses on developing an “ESM toolkit.” The toolkit could include the manuals and fact sheets; training program models; an internet portal (e-learning/webinar); a guide for self-assessment of national capacity; certification models; analysis of benefits of implementing ESM; and regular evaluation of the effectiveness of the toolkit. The Secretariat will submit the program for consideration at the OEWG9. The EWG-2 has three ongoing ESM pilot projects in Egypt, Madagascar and Tanzania.
ISRI will continue to promote ReMA policies as an Industry Observer of PACE and the EWG-2. For more information about these meetings and ISRI’s participation, please contact
Eric Harris.