Member Area

Implement best management practices for used electronics in West Africa

The Step Inititiative - Always stay informed

Under United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) funding, StEP works with stakeholders to develop an e-waste management pilot system for developing and transition countries.  Initial focus was originally on West Africa, though the focus has moved to Ethiopia in East Africa.

This activity includes a number of components such as: (1) quantification, including tracking and categorisation of equipment sources, destinations, and types of e-waste, inventory individual incidents and document (anecdotal) evidence, market situation and categorisation in developing countries (demand); (2) e-waste pathways, including economic and/or trading mechanisms, stakeholder analysis and behavior or drivers of individual actors; (3) impacts, including type of processing and disposal (formal, informal, dumping, etc.), environmental impacts, pollution levels, economic losses, gains, and social impacts and EHS; and (4) looking forward, including policy recommendations, training and awareness rising and implementation consequences.