Because of its unique mobility in international markets, E-waste requires harmonised international management, as it has the potential of polluting not only the countries that produce them, but also those that consume them, and those that might want their waste for economic reasons. There is also a growing scarcity of raw materials for production of new electrical and electronic goods. EEE is a significant consumer of raw materials in production, and of energy in production, use and recycling. Because of the high level of energy consumed in production, added to the event higher level consumed in use, EEE is a major contributor to CO2 emissions and resultant climate change.

At the same time the common, but illegal practise of export of E-waste (such as PC’s, mobile phones, TV’s, printers, copy and fax machines) to countries without the necessary infrastructure to appropriately treat end-of-life electronics, has been identified as a global environmental risk (the “E-waste problem”) and a threat both to the health and environment of recipient nations. Moreover inappropriate treatment increases the loss of scare raw materials. The commercial and social benefits, which should be derived from the sale of more affordable refurbished appliances and equipment, the potential jobs and training opportunities resulting, appear to be negated by the threat of growing, uncontrolled and hazardous dumping of E-waste.

The European Union has responded to the some challenges posed by this with a number of policies and Directives. These include the WEEE, RoHS, and Batteries Directives, the ODS (Ozone Depleting Substances) Regulations, the Eco-Design of EuP (Energy Using Products) Framework Directiveand the Waste Shipment Regulations, for example. The new Directive on Waste(2008/98/EC), has for the first time in EU waste management, enshrined the “waste hierarchy” in EU law (‘preparing for use’ being 2^nd on the tier), as well as Article 11 (reuse & recycling). In addition to this, the REACH Regulation further controls the use of hazardous and polluting chemicals. The UNEP Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, and related OECD decisions, seek to ban the shipment of hazardous waste (and limit that of non-hazardous waste) particularly to transition and developing countries.

Although European legislation has discouraged disposal and encouraged recycling, some think it has discouraged reuse (e.g. contributors to the Commission’s Impact Assessment on the new WEEE Directive). Producers have generally failed in their obligations to ‘design for environment’ and failed to design against product obsolescence. Reuse of EEE has remained a marginal activity, applicable in Ireland to only a small proportion of E-waste (probably around 2%). The experience of successful reuse projects outside Ireland indicates that a much higher proportion (possibly up to 60%) of appliances and equipment E-waste could be diverted from reprocessing by successful refurbishment and reuse.

The RE-Evaluate Partnership has proposed a comprehensive R&D Programme which will be developed over a 36 month period beginning at November 2008. This Programme includes evaluating existing initiatives for E-waste reuse in the South Dublin region, as well as identifying best practise in Reuse from Europe and elsewhere, in order to make and pilot recommendations for the increase of reuse, in line with the European Commission proposed Review of the WEEE Directive,. This aims to raise the level of reuse of E-waste to at least 5% of all WEEE collected. In line with this, the objectives of the RE-EVALUATE Project are the following:

• To collect, analyse, validate and disseminate state-of-the-art knowledge in the field for reuse of E-waste, in all its forms.
• To develop and document best practise models for the integration of reuse of E-waste into local and national waste management strategies, and benchmarks and recommend standards to be aimed at by the sector.
• To apply rigorous scientific analysis to identify the technical and quality standards required for E-waste reuse, and for the enterprises that carry it out. UL ECE will achieve this through the monitoring of reuse Trials, and resulting documentation and evaluation of these Trials.
• To promote public and corporate awareness of the potential of reuse of E-waste, and demonstrate and disseminate best practise in this area.
• To propose policy recommendations aimed at promoting E-waste reuse to the relevant national, European and international agencies.

With the following objectives:

• To promote sound management of E-waste stream, by researching the option of reuse, both as whole appliances, parts and components.
• To support the prioritising of reuse in the E-waste management hierarchy, to reduce the illegal dumping of hazardous waste (especially in developing countries).