A workshop to share ideas on what
collection system for e-waste from households is applicable was held in Penang
on 17 Jan. 2012.
Y. Bhg. Datin Paduka Che Asmah Ibrahim, Director
of Hazardous Substances Division of DOE Putrajaya opened the workshop with a
message that it is very important to listen from the industrial side first.
Mr. Hideki Wada, the team leader of JICA
expert team made a presentation first on the amount of e-waste and the current
e-waste flow. Also, he pointed out by showing the result of the questionnaire
survey to households that 1) the number of collection centers should be
increased, 2) it is convenient for households to have retailers take back old
equipment when new products are delivered, and 3) economic incentive for
e-waste collection should be added.
Mr. Xavier Sebastian, Municipal Council of
Penang Island, explained the conventional e-waste collection businesses from
households by showing the photographs.
Mr. Mohd Fitri Mohd Mokhtar, DOE Penang, reminded
us the functions of the partial recovery facilities and the full recovery
facilities under the current e-waste related policies.
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Manufactures and full recovery companies were
expected to make presentations based on many experiences related to e-waste
collection.
Mr. Bu Fan, DELL, expressed very positive
opinions on behalf of manufactures and proposed the following ideas as “shared responsibilities
among stakeholders”.
- Involvement of conventional recyclers is very important.
- Multiple collection channels such as 1) take-in/trade-in by retailers, 2) voluntary collection by community groups and 3) municipal waste management services should be facilitated with contribution from manufactures.
- The characteristics of target products should be considered. The characteristics of home electric appliance and ICT (information and communication technology) products are different.
Mr. John Ashok, TES-AMM Malaysia, a full
recovery company, proposed an e-waste collection system by taking the China
model as an example.
After all presentations, the participants raised
many questions to the speakers for deeper understanding. The workshop for
sharing the ideas and opinions were closed successfully.
The participants left their ideas and
opinions inspired by the speakers in “Idea Sheets”, which are being arranged by
the expert team.
The project is proceeding to the next step.
