Page 92 - 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

of protecting the safety of Ministry of Health workers, as well as that of the administered entities,
due to the high infection rate in the country.

For this reason, the process was reshaped again. It was decided to use the survey described
in section 3.5.1 Structure of surveys of this document. The survey covered questions related to
the issues addressed by Recommendation ITU-T L.1032. A Focus Group was created with the
participation of the identified managers (section 3.4.1.2 WEEE managers), who carry out some
of the processes of dismantling, take back, recycling or treatment. This has provided insights
to identify improvement opportunities and challenges to be faced by managers to implement
sustainable practices and protect workers' health and safety.

4.1 Costa Rican legislation and Recommendation ITU-T L. 1032

Recommendation ITU-T L.1032 emphasizes the need to tackle in parallel national legislation
and technical requirements applicable to WEEE managers at the national level. As a starting
point for implementing the Recommendation, a comparison was made between Executive
Decree 41052 Take Back Centres for Waste Recovery Regulations and Ministerial Directive N°
DM-CB-8016-2016 Technical Guide for Integral Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment versus Recommendation ITU-T L.1032 suggested occupational health and safety
measures, environmental measures and management systems.
Existing related environmental regulations such as the General Regulations for the Classification
and Management of Hazardous Waste (Executive Decree 41527, 2019) was also considered.
The country has general and specific regulations related to occupational health and safety that
were also looked at.

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