Page 102 - Implementation of ITU-T international standards for sustainable management of waste electrical and electronic equipment: The path to a circular economy in Costa Rica

Implementation of ITU-T international standards for sustainable management of waste
electrical and electronic equipment: The path to a circular economy in Costa Rica

ones mobilizing the system. Generated information suggests that a large volume of WEEE is
accumulated in homes, institutions, or companies, or is being disposed of inadequately. It is
a national challenge to educate end-consumers on WEEE sustainable management, raising
awareness on the environmental, social, and economic impacts of improper WEEE management.
In parallel to awareness-raising, there should be outreach campaigns on the collection options
the country offers to final consumers when EEEs reach the end of their useful life.

There is a great potential for the proper management and use of WEEE generated within the
country; however, it is necessary to strengthen the current installed capacity considering the
following:
– Promoting the creation of management companies in geographical areas outside the
GAM. This would allow part of the recovery process to be carried out close to the points
of generation, so strengthening the management of generated WEEE in rural areas.
– Strengthening the installed capacity of a manager that refines precious metals so that
other managers could establish commercial relations with it. This would prevent the export
of coarse fractions and allow the recovery of these metals in the country.
– Strengthening value chains so that recycling of fractions such as aluminium, electrical
cables, and printed circuit boards are carried out within the country, not exported.
– Strengthening installed capacity of managers who treat hazardous fractions in the country,
so that that this treatment is carried out in the country and not exported.

These actions help consolidating circular economy models through WEEE sustainable
management in the country.

Monitoring, follow-up, evaluation, and continuous improvement are management systems’
basic activities that generate data to support decision making. The country faces the challenge
of the regular data processing needed to generate the information required for the continuous
evaluation of SINAGIRE and to update EEE and WEEE inventories, material flows and balances.
Due to the changing pace of technology and the shortening of lifetimes, it is considered that a
minimum update period of five years would provide a better understanding of the behaviour and
short-term changes. For this update it is suggested to use the latest versions of Recommendation
ITU-Ts L.1031 and L.1032.

5.2 Improvement opportunities for SINAGIRE in Costa Rica

The following initiatives will allow the national system in Costa Rica to be improved.

– Strengthen the control system to:

• Verify that importers trading new and used EEE are registered with a Compliance Unit
before carrying out any EEE imports.

• Check that waste management activity declared by companies when registering as
WEEE managers is carried out in order to have a reliable register of managers. This can
be done through the verification visits paid by the Ministry of Health to grant sanitary
operating permits, as well as through regular visits.

– Connect the computer systems of the General Directorate of Customs with those of the
Ministry of Health to gather information in real time and in a more agile way.
– Implement online reporting by managers and compliance units, through a platform with
databases on WEEE management.

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