E-waste day report reccomendations

Government’s report on e-waste day which was held on 08 December 2010 has been released and for readers information we bring the reccomendations and conclusions from that report.
Recommendations
We decided that these should be related to the organisation of eDay, but the final organization should be decided by the team who are actually working on the day. We recommend that they should include: 1. Provide guidelines for the proper storage and disposal of e-waste in the schools and community;
2. Hold a stakeholder meeting in March-April to elect an eDay Management Committee
3. Keep the committee small (5-6 people)
4. Have representation from each of the key Ministries – OPM, NES, MOIP and Education
5. Assign roles for each of the committee members
a. Media promotion
b. Shipping liaison
c. eDay NZ and other partner liaison
d. Marketing and Sponsorship
6. Make eDay an annual event;
7. Extend eDay to the outer islands and make it a bi-annual event. There is an opportunity to use the Island Secretaries, Public Health officers and Environment officers on the outer islands to assist in this programme.
8. Expand to include other e-waste such as TVs.
Conclusion
It was a brave move to partake in the eDay event given the demands of the involvement of such a huge and diverse responsibility. It was also a wise move given the generous offer from NZ eDay Trust to meet the shipping cost and the organizing of NZ entry permits to enable us to move our e-waste off our island.
We were fortunate to have a representative from the NZ eDay Trust, Ms Barbara Hammonds to give direction and advice on how the operations of the different areas on the day should be carried out. Tanielu Aiafi, from the Secretariat of the Pacific Community also joined us to observe the eDay event so he can eventually work with SPREP in formulating a plan or model that can be used by other Pacific Island countries. It was overwhelming to note the response from the public in disposing of their e-waste – an indication that the people of the Cook Islands support good initiatives that enhance our care for the environment, such as e-waste recycling. It was also good to see the support and assistance from Government, NGOs, the Private sector and the community. Our first eDay was truly a learning experience in every aspect. The organizing committee, the volunteers from the various organisations who assisted on the day, the public who so readily participated by bringing their e-waste to Te Atukura and the sponsors all contributed to a successful day. We would like to see eDay established as an annual event, in support of waste minimization and management initiatives such as proper recycling initiatives. We believe that this can be achieved through a joint effort between Government, the Private Sector and the non Government Organizations in establishing policies and regulations that will cover:
Government subsidies towards e-waste recycling; Electronic suppliers to factor into equipment cost a percentage to go towards e-waste recycling; Funds collected to be managed by a Trust (set up by Government) to go towards e-waste recycling costs; Prohibiting distribution of second hand computer equipment to the Outer Islands as life span for these are short given exposure to the elements; Finally, to assist with a long term e-waste plan for the Cook Islands, it would be good to consider the report by Teariki Rongo. “Report: To implement the Electronic and electric waste (e-waste) project in the Cook Islands. National Environment Service 2009.” and focus on the area of Laws, Conventions and Trade Agreements, where the following are highlighted: The need to review the Environment Act 2003 to incorporate e-waste management and e-waste disposal; The need to incorporate the relevant requirements of the Basel and Waigani Conventions into the Environment Act through regulations; The need to be aware of the role of Pacific Island Trade Agreements that could assist the Cook Islands in the area of export of e-waste and access to specialised expertise in this area.

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