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Uganda E-waste Management and Electronics Producers’ Extended Producer Responsibility

Government Stakeholder Consultation on the Regulation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Electricals and Electronics in Uganda

Date: Tuesday, 28 May and Wednesday, 29 May 2024
Time: 9:30 - 17:15 EAT

The continued transformation into a digitally enabled society that is taking place under the Digital Uganda Vision (DUV) will lead to an increase in the use of electrical and electronic equipment, which at the end of their useful life, will eventually become e-waste. Unplanned e-waste management creates a number of challenges for the environment, economy and society. Hazardous substances contained within e-waste contaminate our environment and affect human health.

Uganda has developed a number of legal instruments for e-waste management, which refer in varying levels of detail to the environmental policy principle of extended producer responsibility (EPR). However, challenges remain when it comes to regulating and implementing this policy principle in e-waste management. E-waste management can be a big burden for the Government, especially for local Government, hence the need to set up a system which involves all stakeholders that contribute to the generation of E-waste, the producers.

Under the joint Government of Uganda and ITU project, supported by the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund (GDF), technical assistance is being provided to develop a detailed technical proposal report on the required revisions to the Ugandan e-waste regulatory framework based on inputs gathered from consultation with stakeholders. A first consultation workshop was held in November 2023 to gather input from stakeholders towards the preparation of necessary revisions to the Ugandan regulatory framework on e-waste management. This second consultation workshop was organized to garner additional inputs regarding the implementation of the EPR principle for e-waste management in Uganda.

Objectives and Expected Outcomes

The objective of the workshop on the policy implementation plan and the electronics sector EPR regulations were two-fold:

1. To gather inputs from the national “e-waste” steering committee in order to prepare the policy implementation plan, to be validated during a follow-up workshop later in the year.
2. To gather inputs from the committee in order to prepare a draft regulation on the management of e-waste in the context of EPR, for further deliberation during a follow-up workshop in the year.

The expected outcomes of the workshop included:

1. Providing an overview of the Government of Uganda’s strategic agenda on e-waste, emphasizing the importance of the implementation action plan for the draft revised National Electronic Waste Management policy.
2. Engaging in discussions on the e-waste issue, including a situation/feasibility study on handling e-waste in Uganda and infrastructure development to boost collection options.
3. Developing a comprehensive portfolio of stakeholder roles and responsibilities, with key stakeholders including the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, Uganda Communications Commission, and Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) among others.

Participation

Participants included identified stakeholders from the public sector in Uganda’s digital ecosystem.

Agenda

Day 1: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
E-waste Policy Implementation Plan

Time	Activity
08:30 – 09:30	Registration of participants
OPENING
09:30 – 10:00	Brief opening remarks to day one of the workshop, introduction to the committee and the facilitators, and overview of the objective of day one of the workshop.
SESSION 1
10:00 – 10:30	Presentation of proposed concrete activities by policy objective (legal and regulatory framework, e-waste management infrastructure, resource mobilization, awareness and human resource development, investment and job creation) by each entity listed in the institutional framework of the draft revised policy document.
Coffee/Tea break and Group Photo
BREAKOUT SESSION
10:30 – 12:00	Breakout group session to reflect on the proposed concrete activities and to refine these down to 3 concrete activities per policy objective, with corresponding outputs, for the implementation plan, based on the summary of policy strategies in the draft revised policy document.
Lunch break
SESSION 2
13:00 – 13:30	Presentation of proposed costed roles and responsibilities and key indicators, based on the list of entities in the institutional framework section of the draft revised policy, to be assigned to each concrete activity and output for each policy objective for the implementation plan of the draft revised policy document.
BREAKOUT SESSION
14:00 – 15:30	Breakout group session to reflect on the proposed roles and responsibilities and to refine these for each concrete activity and to define key indicators of performance for each of the already defined corresponding outputs for the implementation plan of the draft revised policy document.
Coffee/Tea break
16:00 – 17:15	Facilitated discussion focussing on the budget of the implementation action plan, expanding and deliberating on what would be asked from those with a role and responsibility in the implementation of the policy’s action plan.
DAY 1 WRAP-UP
17:15 – 17:30	Brief closing remarks for day one of the workshop, summarising the approach taken to gather inputs on the draft policy’s implementation plan and outlining the next steps to finalise the implementation plan and to draft a skeleton of the proposed regulation.

Day 2: Wednesday, 29 May 2024
From Policy to Action

Time	Activity
08:30 – 09:00	Registration of participants
RECAP OF DAY 1 TAKEAWAYS AND OPENING OF DAY
09:30 – 10:00	Brief opening remarks to day two of the workshop, introduction to the committee and the facilitators, and overview of the objective of day three of the workshop.
SESSION 3
10:00 – 10:30	Presentation of a proposed e-waste management system in Uganda based on the environmental policy principle of extended producer responsibility, with direct reference to proposed roles and responsibilities of a core set of actors, based on the requirements of the overarching existing policy and regulatory framework and the inputs provided by participants during day one of the workshop.
**Coffee/Tea break**
DISCUSSION
10:45 – 12:00	Discussion among participants in response to the proposed e-waste management system in Uganda based on the environmental policy principle of extended producer responsibility, in particular with a focus again on the roles and responsibilities.
Lunch break
BREAKOUT SESSION
14:00 – 15:30	Breakout group session to explore participants’ opinions, interests and perspectives in response to the following core elements of extended producer responsibility (system nature, product scope, type of producer responsibility, cost coverage, producer registration), which will eventually build the articles of the regulation.
**Coffee/Tea break**
CLOSING OF EVENT
16:00 – 16:30	Brief closing remarks for day two of the workshop, summarising the approach taken to gather inputs on the proposed extended producer responsibility system and outlining the next steps to further formulate the system design and eventually prepare the skeleton of the proposed electronics EPR regulation.

e-waste and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) related material

E-learning course title	E-learning link
An Introduction to E-waste Policy E-learning	https://academy.itu.int/training-courses/full-catalogue/introduction-e-waste-policy-1
Deep dive into the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) principle for E-waste management	https://academy.itu.int/training-courses/full-catalogue/deep-dive-extended-producer-responsibility-epr-principle-e-waste-management

Social media

Twitter@ITUAfrica

Link to ITU region website here

A joint project

This activity is part of the joint project by the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, International Telecommunication Union, and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of the People’s Republic of China supported by the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund (GDF). ITU is the project implementing agency.

Access the main website for Government of Uganda and ITU joint digital transformation project 2021-2024 here.

EVENT INFORMATION
CONTACTS

The workshop was as a physical meeting in Kampala, Uganda.

The organizing committee is available to answer any questions at: itu-ro-africa@itu.int

Country contacts:
Michael Ocero, Ministry of ICT and National Guidance
E-mail: michael.ocero@ict.go.ug

ITU contacts:
Christine Sund, ITU Regional Office for Africa
Garam Bel, ITU/BDT
E-mail: itu-ro-africa@itu.int

DOCUMENTS

Workshop concept note and agenda