It is estimated roughly 40% of all countries globally are covered by an e-waste policy, legislation or regulation. Despite this, very few of these countries have implemented such instruments and for those where policy is the main instrument, there is often a lack of legal framework or enforcement. To assist Member States to balance their economic and social development with their environmental management, ITU provides a programme dedicated to policy and regulatory development. The programme is guided by ITU’s high-level targets, by 2023 to:
- Increase the global e-waste recycling rate to 30%
- Raise the percentage of countries with a e-waste legislation to 50%
Through collaboration with its partners such as UNEP and GIZ, ITU has been providing technical assistance to countries to support with the development of their policy and regulatory frameworks governing the management of e-waste at the national level. The countries covered by ITU’s technical assistance programme in this regard include Botswana, Burundi, Malawi, Namibia, The Gambia, Rwanda, Niger, Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan. A global project which ended in December 2022, signed between ITU and UNEP, supported several of these countries with implementing the EPR concept in policies and regulations for the sound management of e-waste.
ITU is in the process of setting up a new global project in collaboration with the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which will run until 2025 and support 3 countries globally with the development and implementation of e-waste management regulation.
More information can be found about the results of recent ITU projects on
e-waste policy and regulation through our
story maps.
For more information about how ITU can provide technical assistance in this area or how you can support our work, please see our brochures for
Member States and for
Partners.
An introduction to e-waste policy online course
This self-paced course aims to support national stakeholders in developing national Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) policy and regulation. In addition to an introduction and overview, the course consists of the following four modules: (1) Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), (2) Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), (3) Financial Management, and (4) Government Stakeholder Groups and Interests. Go to course!
