The Ministry of Environment together with other institutions is working on the drafting of new regulation to deal with electronic waste.
According to a report by the German company Statista, which specializes in market and consumer data, by 2019 the Dominican Republic was the tenth largest generator of electronic waste in Latin America and the Caribbean, rolling 67,000 metric tons, representing an increase of about 22% compared to 2015.
Electronic and electrical waste are components or equipment incapable of fulfilling the task for which they were created, they are known under the concept of WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment).
The inadequate disposal of WEEE can cause several damages to human health. These affect the brain, the nervous system and the circulatory system, due to heavy metals such as chromium, mercury, cadmium and lead found in these wastes.
In the environment, a nickel-cadmium cell phone battery contaminates 50,000 liters of water and a television 80,000 liters.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in its report “Children and Electronic Waste Dumps” indicated that urgent measures must be taken to protect millions of children, pregnant women and adolescents around the world who are at risk as a result of the irresponsible recycling of electrical and electronic devices.
As reported in Hoy, the Dominican Republic is a signatory to the Basel Convention and Law 225-20 on Integral Management and Co-processing of Solid Waste provides for the management of these wastes. However, to date no effective policies have been implemented to allow for the proper disposal of such waste.
One of the first actions developed by the Ministry of Environment is the workshop “Governmental Sector Consultation for the Integral Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)”, held in June 2021 to identify the key players that would help to improve the management of such waste.
The workshop was in charge of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel). The participating entities were: the Vice-Minister of Environmental Management, the Directorate of Environmental Quality, the Vice-Minister of International Cooperation, the Directorate of Environmental Quality and the Program for the Integral Management of Solid Waste (PROGIRS), among others.
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Hoy
28 June 2021