Circular Economy- The Road to Sustainable E-Waste Recycling

Part 1 - Lead Organizer

Contact Person

Osama Manzar

Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate)

Digital Empowerment Foundation

Designation

Director & Founder

Gender

Male

Economy of Residence

India

Primary Stakeholder Group

Civil Society

Part 2 - Session Proposal

Your proposal is for

Main Conference (Day 1-3)

Session Title

Circular Economy- The Road to Sustainable E-Waste Recycling

Track

Sustainability

Session Format

Roundtable

Where do you plan to organize your session?

Virtual / online

Specific Issues for Discussion

The new normal brought as a result of novel coronavirus pandemic has shifted most of the world online. Offices have shifted to online platforms; meeting friends and family is being done online and businesses are slowly getting used to the new normal. All of this with an ever-increasing rise in frugal technologies will invariably add to the existing pile of e-waste. India in last year produced 3.25MT of e-waste most of which was not recycled. Currently India has 1.10 billion mobile connections with Internet penetration standing at 45%. With the rise of cheaper technology and increasing dependence on technologies makes it inevitable that the quantity of e-waste will only increase subsequently. The only answer to sustainable lifecycle of e-waste is circular economy. How we can make the practice of circular economy common amongst producers and consumers alike? How should India adapt circular economy to best fit its need? How the informal e-waste collectors and recyclers should be integrated and made the primary stakeholders? The answer to these questions will prepare us to fight the surge of e-waste that country will produce in the coming days.

Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF

APrIGF provides a platform to discuss issues related to internet governance which can be applied to South-Asian countries. Not only does this provide a platform but also a space to collaborate and find solutions. Asian countries are the biggest producers of e-waste in the world, with India and China leading the race. It becomes pertinent to discuss this pressing concern of rising e-waste and how circular economy should be utilized. The session could provide a platform for discussion and exchange of opinion and experiences of academic and professional experts who have been working on sustainable models of e-waste disposal and can debate around the use of circular economy as an answer to the problem of e-waste using this platform.

Methodology / Agenda

Introduction (5 mins): Moderator will begin the session by introducing the agenda, speakers, and the background of the topics of the workshop, in order to build the ground for a discussion. Panel Discussion (25 minutes): Speakers will discuss the issue of recycling e-waste and their views on implementing circular economy. Best-practices and cases can be presented of other countries around the world that can be used as a model in India. Open-floor Discussion (25 minutes): The floor will be open for a round of discussion. The participants as well as the speakers can together take on issues discussed during the session and share their opinions. Q&A and Wrap-up (5 minutes): Moderators to summarize the discussion and wrap up the session.

Please provide 3 subject matter tags that best describe your session.

#E-Waste #CircularEconomy #Sustainability

Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible)

Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session.

The panelist are subject experts in the matter of technology and environmental sustainability with their extensive work and experience in the field of waste management, they will bring forward their views on the subject. Osama Manzar is a global leader on the mission of eradicating information poverty from India and the global South using digital tools. He founded Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) in 2002. DEF works in India to digitally empower the masses with a footprint of 200 locations and interventions in more than 10 countries, mostly in South Asia. Divya Tiwari is the CEO of Saahas. She is an environmentalist working on developing and implementing sustainable solutions around circular economy with a focus on waste reduction and management. Her extensive work in the field of e-waste management will bring new insights on how effectively e-waste can be managed and the current practices around the world that can be incorporated. Pranshu Singhal is the founder of Karo Sambhav. He completed a Master’s in Environment and Policy at Lund University in Sweden, where he was mentored by Professor Thomas Lindhqvist, who first proposed the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) principle for waste management. His organization is India's leading Producer Responsibility Organization that collaborates with enterprises and enables them to close their material loops by designing and implementing transformative EPR programs for waste from electronics (E-waste) and plastics. He can create discussion around circular economy and with his area of expertise in E-waste he will be able to share the real situation of e-waste in the country as well as methods and strategies that one needs to develop. Dr Suneel Pandey is Senior Fellow and Director, Environment & Waste Management Division, TERI. In addition, he is Adjunct Faculty at the TERI School of Advanced Studies. He has more than 25 years of consultancy/ research experience in the areas of municipal, industrial and hospital waste management, plastic waste management, waste-to-energy issues, impact assessment, air, water and soil quality monitoring, site assessments, performance evaluation of ETP and institutional strengthening and capacity building. We believe Dr Pandey’s academic understanding in the discipline will help in coming up with workable solutions of managing electronic waste at policy and academic level.