Page 107 - 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

5 3 2 Recommendation ITU-T L 1032

The COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to work with informal managers, the target group
addressed by Recommendation ITU-T L.1032. Based on the experience of implementing this
Recommendation in Costa Rica, the following is recommended:

– Identify the informal managers that carry out activities within the country. The relevant
information is the contact person, telephone number, e-mail address, and location of the
facilities.
– Approach the managers to explain to them the interest and importance of implementing
Recommendation ITU-T L.1032.
– Conduct verification visits to gather information more valuable than that achieved through
the Costa Rica study. To this end, a checklist can be developed to gather information on
the status of each visited manager.
– Develop an implementation plan to provide training and to accompany managers to
implement the aspects identified in Recommendation ITU-T L.1032.

5.4 Suggestions to ITU

During ITU standards implementation in Costa Rica, improvement opportunities were identified
for Recommendations ITU-T L.1031 and L.1032; therefore, an update of these standards is
suggested. Improvement opportunities are detailed below.

5 4 1 Recommendation ITU-T L-1031:

– To indicate that a time-frame of at least five years should be used to perform the material
flows analysis, due to the short-to-medium EEE lifetimes.
– To include an uncertainty analysis in this type of study when developing WEEE generation
projections, due to the variability in unit weights of products belonging to the same
generation and to successive technological generations.

5 4 2 Recommendation ITU-T L-1032:

– To include an annex with a list of requirements that allow managers to identify
environmental and occupational health and safety measures they should implement,
according to the type of management process carried out and the materials used.
– To develop a massive open online course (MOOC) or a self-learning manual related to
the first sections of the Recommendation. This would strengthen the capacities of WEEE
managers who carry out dismantling, smelting, shredding, and fraction refinement
processes, on EEE composition topics, process flows for EEE treatment, environmental
measures, occupational health and safety measures, as well as management systems.

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