10 07 29 Master thesis Juliana Leon - e-Waste. This guide

3.4.7 Other unwanted processes
Other unwanted processes occurring in the IS but not discussed in this study are:
• The dismantling of computers in non-adapted places (e.g. streets, improvised
workshops, private households) without basic security equipment, generating
health risks for workers, workers’ families and passers-by.
• The inappropriate stockpiling of electronic equipments
• In addition to CRTs, brominated plastics and PWBs, other PC components
considered hazardous are being disposed in inappropriate ways. This is the
case for capacitors, different types of batteries and mercury fluorescent tubes
(from LCD screens) that should normally be recycled in specialized industries
or send to a hazardous waste disposal facility.
3.5 Including the IS into a future formal e-waste management
system
As described in the previous chapters, at this moment, Colombia does not have an
adapted formal infrastructure to treat the PC waste it is generating. The IS is for now
well involved and firmly installed in the refurbishment and recycling “market”. This
fact, combined with the drastic increase of PC waste that the country will have to face
within the next decade, will lead to a worsening of the actual environmental situation,
if no counteractive actions are put in place.
The legal framework in Colombia does not yet oblige producers and importers to take
responsibility of the end-of-life phase of their products. However, as mentioned
earlier, a regulation for computers and peripherals is supposed to be put into force
soon. From then on, producers will have the obligation to assume the responsibility
for their end-of-life products. They can either do this individually or through a
collective system e.g. by creating a Producers Responsibility Organization (PRO)
that would be in charge of the collection and environmentally sound recycling of
computers of all the brands. The CCIT (Colombian ICT Chamber) has been studying,
in collaboration with EMPA, the feasibility of the creation of a PRO for its members.
One of the mechanisms contemplated for the financing of all these tasks is the
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