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

3.5.2.2 Environmental benefits
Evidently, the dismantling would, in this alternative, not be done by a formal recycler,
but this does not mean that it would be done under inadequate conditions. The
cooperatives and all enterprises desirous to do business with e-waste treatment
would need to follow defined rules and regulations and receive certified training for its
workers. Compared to a completely formal system, this alternative presents the
advantage of including at least a part of the informal sector in a formalized e-waste
treatment system and, thus, limiting the possible reinforcement of the existing
informal by-market and the associated unsafe practices mentioned earlier.
3.5.2.3 Social benefits
As it has been happening in the case of other recyclable solid waste, the alternative
proposed would allow the formalization of a certain number of recicladores who
would then be engaged as operators. A formalization of the now informal actors
would allow them to earn new skills, reinforce their social position and maybe lead to
the creation of new micro or small recycling businesses.
3.5.3 Promote formalization of informal businesses
As stated by some of the intermediaries and recicladores, private companies are
giving less and less of the e-waste they generate to informal companies who offer to
buy it. They prefer to give it to officially authorized companies who can certify an
environmental friendly treatment of the waste they are receiving. This is the reason
why some of the informal recyclers are interested in entering in the formal business
by getting licenses from local authorities. These initiatives should really be
encouraged because they combine all the sustainability criteria: they create new
skilled and low-skilled jobs, limit the unsafe manipulation of e-waste, and are good
business opportunities.
Some of the incentives that would allow the formalization of these businesses are:
• Granting access to financial aids in order to obtain the starting capital needed,
for example, by loans or credit programs supported by the government, by
tributary exemptions during a certain grace period, by the support of
international entities, foundations, NGO’s or directly from computer producers.
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