Research On Comprehensive Certification Mechanisms For The E-waste Treatment Industry In Developing Countries

E-waste, is one of the fastest growing waste streams. Because of the toxic substances it contains and the unmeant emission during recycling, e-waste is both harmful for health and hazardous for the environment. Its primitive recycling in some developing countries leads to sickness of the workers and severe pollution of the groundwater. But the e-waste problem is also a global crisis with developed countries sending their end-of-life electronics to developing countries without clear ideas of the further processing. At a national level, waste management authorities need to develop a specific legislation addressing the e-waste question. But only industry driven strategies like certification mechanisms can spread quickly best practices in the industry. This thesis aims to show how a certification mechanism is an efficient tool for developing countries to promote best practices.This study’s assessment of the current voluntary standards in developed countries underlines the role of different strategies for their implementation: stewardship programs with standards requirement, legislation with collection and recycling goals, and uniform regional standards. The analysis of the Chinese and Brazilian situations shows that, even though the development of specific e-waste legislation and the control of transboundary movements are crucial, only industry driven standards may achieve a fast implementation of best practices. However, certifications from developed countries cannot be directly used.The investigation on international cooperation show that it is essential to take advantage of accumulated previous experiences. The research on financing matters reveals that the design of a certification mechanism must be coordinated with a financing strategy relying on the producer pays principle or an advanced recycling fee paid by the consumer. The certification itself needs to have comprehensive coverage of both all the stages of the industry and all the e-waste categories. The standards have to require the implementation of environmental, health and safety management systems and a standardized downstream monitoring of output flows. Moreover, the seriousness of the certification relies on a third party monitoring carried out by independent and specifically trained auditors, and its implementation by the stakeholders on available guidelines that can quickly handle new issues.