eWASA News – 15 Oct 21

eWASA will be hosting a second webinar around the final arrangements for the EPR take-back scheme that comes into effect on 5 November 2021. A notice will go out on Monday, 18 October 2021, with the invitation for eWASA member companies.

Digital Solutions for a Circular Electronics Value Chain – thought paper and webinar

As part of a collaboration for International E-waste Day 2021, The International Telecommunication Union, the WEEE Forum, GSMA, and Sofies Group have prepared a thought paper, ‘Digital Solutions for a Circular Electronics Value Chain‘,  which explores the current applicability and scope of digital technologies in enabling the transition to a circular electronics value chain.

The paper maps out major digitalisation trends and highlights use cases of digital technologies across the electronics value chain, from raw material production and electronics manufacturing, post-consumer e-waste collection, logistics and treatment to overall e-waste system management and monitoring. Examples ranging from simple digital platforms and Uber-style mobile collection applications to AI-enabled e-waste recognition and blockchain-based secure communication channels are drawn from both established and emerging digital solutions, whilst case studies provide a deeper look into real-world applications of digital technologies across the electronics value chain.

Read the report here and find out more about it by joining a webinar t on Tuesday, 26 October 2021, 14:30-16:00 (CEST).

Community waste collectors were ‘ripped off’

Disgruntled waste collectors in Ekurhuleni, contracted on an ambitious R1.2-billion job creation and empowerment programme, told amaBhungane in July that promises were broken, that they were underpaid and companies supposed to mentor them had pocketed most of the money.

The City dodged the claims then — ignoring repeated questions — and now, confronted by amaBhungane with its own report, the city continues to deny there was anything amiss.

But the forensic investigation by independent auditors, commissioned by the city itself, gives broad backing to allegations published by amaBhungane — although the report deals only with one of five mentor companies contracted by the city.

The report was obtained by amaBhungane via a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application lodged with the city in which we requested the report by name — after having been tipped off about its existence.  See the full report in Daily Maverick.

All existing producers and producer responsibility of EEE organisations must register with the DFFE  before 5 November 2021.

Download the full EPR regulations, regulations pertaining to the e-waste sector, and the lighting sector. On 19 January, the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Barbara Creecy, postponed the implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulations to 5 May 2021.

Extended Producer Responsibility applies to the following identified products or class of products:

• Large equipment (any external dimension more than 100cm)
• Medium equipment ( any external dimension between 50 and 100cm)
• Small equipment (no external dimension more than 50 cm)
• Batteries

Wondering if you are a producer? Click the link to find out. Contact us to discuss the eWASA EPR Plan.

To register as a producer follow this link – http://sawic.environment.gov.za/epr/regindex.php

With fewer than 7,000 of the more than 12 million vehicles on South Africa’s road networks being emission-free, the country sorely lags behind this global trend and is unlikely to change to these alternatives to any meaningful degree at any time soon.

Part of the long-term vision described in the Green Transport Strategy for South Africa: (2018-2050) (GTS) report called for “the replacement of fossil fuels by vehicle technologies with low or zero tailpipe emissions, such as electric and fuel cell vehicles… coupled with a significantly lower national electricity grid emissions factor due to a large scale switch to renewable energy improvements. This will lead to a dramatic reduction in the carbon intensity of motorised transport.”

On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his weekly newsletter, reaffirmed that vision, writing that the government intended to “pursue ‘green’ industrialisation, such as manufacturing using green technology and a shift to the production of electric vehicles”.

Transport, according to the GTS report, accounted for 10.8% of the country’s total direct greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, with road transport being responsible for 91.2% of transport’s emissions. South Africa, as a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is obliged to reduce its emissions to restrict global warming to values below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Read more on Daily Maverick.