The following solution is for organizations and suppliers needing to contract an e-waste treatment service for the e-waste collected in refugee camps to avoid scattering of e-waste which is potentially toxic to human health and the environment. The collected e-waste must be safely handled to avoid any exposure to the population and to the environment. The e-waste should be transported and treated according to the local regulations by an   authorised facility. If this is impossible (lack of local regulations and authorised facilities), the collected e-waste must be carefully stored underground on-site. 

The solutions detail the key criteria for the e-waste management service. These are summarised in the criteria tab and guidance on these criteria is attached. The following main criteria should be considered as a basis for a service contract.

Key waste management service requirements

Off-site e-waste management: The contracted service provider is offsite (not in the camp) and an authorised e-waste management site. Such a facility must comply with the national laws and regulations with regard to transporting, handling, processing, and recycling of e-waste. 

Transport of e-waste: The service provider must respect the local regulations when transporting waste from the camp to the facility. 

E-waste treatment facility: The facility must comply with national and/or local laws and regulations specifically relevant to handling, processing, and recycling of e-waste, and proper authorization by all appropriate governing authorities to perform such handling, processing, and recycling.

Safety measures: The e-waste management facility must implement appropriate measures to safeguard occupational and environmental health and safety. The following measures are recommended: 

• Environmental health & safety (EH&S) training of personnel, including training with regard to material and equipment handling, worker exposure, controlling releases and safety and emergency procedures.
• Documentation that completion of an EH&S audit is completed and certified by a competent internal or external auditor on a periodic basis (generally annually).
• The facility must manage all materials to minimize adverse exposures to workers and releases to the environment.
• The facility must provide appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE) to workers.

Hazard and accident contingency plan: The e-waste management facility will implement appropriate measures for potential hazard caused by the operation. The following measures are recommended:

• Written hazardous materials identification and management plan.
• The facility must establish a system for identifying and properly managing components that if waste may be hazardous (e.g., circuit boards, batteries, CRTs, mercury phosphor lamps, etc.) that are removed from e-waste during dismantling and treatment operations.
• Written plan for reporting and responding to exceptional pollutant releases, including emergencies such as accidents, spills, fires, and explosions.
• Maintenance of Commercial General Liability Insurance or equivalent corporate guarantee for accidents and other emergencies as required by local regulations.

Inventory monitoring and administration: Inbound and outbound materials arising from the collected e-waste must be safely stored and monitored. The following practices are recommended:

• Storage areas must be adequate to hold all processed and unprocessed inventory.
• The facility must use a regularly implemented and documented monitoring and record-keeping program that tracks inbound material weights (total) and outbound material weights (total to each destination).
• The facility must keep records of transactions that involve the export of materials to a foreign country (directly or indirectly through downstream market contractors)

On-site storage: The service provider must store e-waste on-site in waterproof containers or on roofed shelves with where there is a future intention to transfer the accumulated e-waste to an authorised facility. 

On-site underground storage: The service provider will ensure that all types of batteries must be removed from e-waste to be stored underground, and e-waste must be contained in a waterproof container such as plastic containers. If the removed batteries cannot be stored securely above-ground, they must be stored underground in a sand-filled water-proof containers or lined pits (that do not allow runoff or seepage). The underground storage location must be registered and marked for a future recovery of e-waste.  

Supplier qualification

 Apart from assessing the service provided by the supplier the buyer contracting the waste collection service should ensure the service provider is a good actor; ethical, complies with commercial requirements and social responsibilities. The repair shop should be able to demonstrate the following:

• Have a active registration (business or organisation)
• Have audited accounts or up to date accounts (completed requisite tax obligations).
• Have a good reputation in community and transparent ownership with good reputation of owners, directors and board members.
• Certified to transport, handle, treat and dispose of waste managed on the site.

Acknowledgement

This solution (and guidance material) has been developed with the contribution of Innovation Norway for the IOM E-waste Project. The IOM E-waste Project focuses on creating a circular economy for e-waste in displacement settings. Solvoz developed various solutions to support sustainable procurement practices, focussing on the procurement aspect of the e-waste value chain to green humanitarian responses. As part of the Project, Solvoz has developed sustainability and circularity criteria for several product types and services, in consultations with numerous humanitarian and private actors.