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UN Organizations Highlight Commitment to Ending E-Waste

Through the Environment Management Group, the United Nations organisations active in addressing e-waste will seek to strengthen their collaboration in light of the signing of the Letter of Intent.

Organizations from the United Nations (U.N.) system signed a Letter of Intent last week to support a system-wide effort to manage e-waste.

Organizations that signed the letter include UN Environment, the International Telecommunication Union, United Nations University, International Labour Organization, the Basel and Stockholm Convention, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Two reports outlining the global e-waste problem, as well as the U.N.’s efforts to combat the problem, were released at the end of 2017.

The Environment Management Group report on the United Nations System-wide Response to Tackling E-waste highlighted the need for strengthened collaboration among United Nations organisations, with over 20 organisations active in tackling e-waste and over 150 e-waste initiatives having been undertaken since 2004. The Global E-waste Monitor, developed by the International Telecommunication Union, United Nations University and International Solid Waste Association has highlighted the increasing generation of e-waste; in 2016 some 44.7 million metric tonnes of e-waste were generated globally.

Through the Environment Management Group, the United Nations organisations active in addressing e-waste will seek to strengthen their collaboration in light of the signing of the Letter of Intent. Some of the outcomes expected include the increased recognition of the e-waste related work of these organisations, deeper discourse with electronics manufacturers and recyclers, longer-term negotiations towards an E-waste Coalition and the partnering with interested private sector entities to develop a knowledge sharing platform to host information on United Nations e-waste projects, and global statistics and data relating to e-products and e-waste.