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| Ridwan Tamin and Rolph Payet at the BCRC in Jakarta |
The Basel Convention Regional Centre (BCRC) for South-East Asia in
Indonesia addresses in particular electronic waste
issues in the region, among other issues. Established in 2004, it is also a
Stockholm Convention Regional Centre since 2011. It primarily
assists the following ten countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. My visit to the Basel Convention Regional Centre for
South-East Asia, together with my BRS colleague, Mr. Suman Sharma, was
facilitated by the Director of the Centre, Mr. Ridwan Tamin.
I was very
impressed by the enormous amount of work completed by a relatively small
centre, especially on developing guidelines and training for recycling,
refurbishment and reconditioning of used electrical and electronic devices, as
well as on the management of e-wastes. The support of the Government of
Indonesia was clearly evident and needs to be commended. However, it is
important that the BRS Secretariat, through partners, identifies means to
further develop and expand the scope of the Centre, especially within its area
of competency, hazardous wastes, drawing links to the Stockholm, Rotterdam and
the Minamata Mercury Conventions, as well as SAICM implementation.
Globally,
and especially in this region, the rise in disused and discarded electric and
electronic waste is of great concern. According to a 2012 Asian Development Bank (ADB) report, the explosion of e-waste has been driven in part by
population growth and rising consumption. But it also owes much to the proliferation of
high-tech devices worldwide, rapid obsolescence, manufacturing techniques that
make disassembly difficult, and widespread unawareness of the toxic nature of
materials hidden in personal computers, cell phones, monitors, and many other
electronic products. Nevertheless, work
undertaken by the Centre shows that there are significant opportunities and
solutions available to extend the life of electronic equipment, reduce costs, protect the environment, and create jobs at the same time. By training and establishing Small and Medium-Sized
Enterprises (SMEs) specializing in the clean reconditioning and recycling of
electrical and electronic wastes, it is possible to limit the volume of e-wastes
destined for final disposal, thus reducing soil and water contamination, as
well as stimulating the creation of jobs in the region.
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| Meeting with BCRC staff |
The issue
of e-waste will be extensively discussed at the forthcoming 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention in May. The focus of these discussions will be on the technical guidelines on transboundary movements of electronic and electrical waste and
used electrical and electronic equipment.
It is imperative that these guidelines are adopted to enable the Secretariat
of the Basel Convention, together with its partners, to address some of the challenges
related to e-waste. There are a number of lessons to be learnt from initiatives
implemented in Southeast Asia; however, this region needs further support to
implement measures and mechanisms to address used electronic and electrical
wastes, which reduce the impact of recycling, refurbishment and reconditioning
on the environment and health. This support can be further enhanced through
partnerships with local authorities, the private sector, development banks and
other entities.
To learn more about our activities on e-waste , follow this link.
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