Page 5 - Implementation of ITU-T international standards for sustainable management of waste electrical and electronic equipment: The path to a circular economy in Costa Rica

Forewords

Sustainability has been a core element of Costa Rica's
political and economic system since the 1980s. Costa
Rica recognizes that the preservation of natural resources
and biodiversity needs, and is able to go hand in hand
with, growth and development. Since then, the country
has adopted a development model that embraces
sustainability at its core. Costa Rica is already on an
unambiguous path to achieving global sustainability
targets, including the climate and environmental
targets embodied in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris
Agreement.

Nevertheless, the country is facing an emerging sustainability challenge: to manage the growing
environmental impacts of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). More than 19 per
cent of WEEE is disposed of together with ordinary waste, and more than 32 per cent of WEEE
is simply invisible and unaccounted for. It may remain scattered and abandoned in drawers,
boxes or cellars in its owners’ homes. The informal sector remains an important actor in WEEE
management, often using unsafe disposal procedures such as uncontrolled landfills or open
dumps, which puts the health of citizens and the environment at risk.

Data from the Ministry of Health, collected with the support of the Electronic Waste Project
for Latin America (PREAL), indicate that only 8 per cent of the WEEE received in Costa Rica is
managed in an integral manner within the country (Wagner, et al., 2021). This challenge is also
hampering Costa Rica's efforts to achieve a successful digital transformation and to meet the
goals set up in the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Connect 2030 Agenda for
Global Telecommunications and ICT Development.

In response, Costa Rica has adopted a regulatory framework that emphasizes the integral
management of WEEE. One of the best examples is the reform of Law 8839 on Integral Waste
Management, approved at the end of October 2021, which widens the principle of extended
producer responsibility (EPR) to priority products. This amendment includes a new chapter on
producer responsibility for priority waste, where WEEE is included.

As part of the commitment to achieve WEEE sustainable management, the country has joined
the UNIDO-GEF project “Strengthening of National Initiatives and Enhancement of Regional
Cooperation for the Environmentally Sound Management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
in WEEE in Latin American Countries.” With the support of ITU, Costa Rica has implemented
two green standards: Recommendation ITU-T L.1031 “Guideline on implementing the e-waste
reduction target of the Connect 2030 Agenda”; and Recommendation ITU-T L.1032 “Guidelines
and certification schemes for e-waste recyclers”. The details of this collaboration are described
in this Case Study.

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