Collaborative e-waste management to reduce disposal and foster circular consumption in the City of Sant Boi
The global race to lower costs is contributing to a competitive and counterproductive mindset whereby valuable materials and resources are relegated as waste far before they reach the end of their useful life. DLTs can facilitate new open and symbiotic economic models between public organisations and public/private partnerships alike that lead to significant reductions in CO2 emissions, effective resource reuse and recycling, and the creation of new circular economy jobs.
There is an urgent need to rethink the current electronic equipment consumption model. Most equipment ends its short life cycle as e-waste, and evolves into circular and collaborative electronic equipment consumption solutions, extending the life and the value of the equipment and providing social and circular economy improvements.
The ecological damage caused by e-waste is massive:
Europe generates 12 million tons of waste per year from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), corresponding to 16.6 kg on average per inhabitant (source: Global E-waste Monitor, 2017).
Only a fraction is recycled (from 10-50% depending on the e-waste category), with the global rate of recycling at 41% in 2016 (source: European Environment Agency).
Current European legislation makes it mandatory to collect 85% of the e-waste generated. Particularly, the EU WEEE Directive aims to stimulate improved reuse, recycling and recovery (RRR) up to 95%
Challenge Owner
Sant Boi City Council is responsible for providing all of the public facilities and services that contribute to meet the needs of its community - a city of 80,000 inhabitants located in the province of Barcelona. The City Council encourages citizen participation, self-organisation, local identity and representation, environmental sustainability, territory management, social cohesion, connectivity, communication and mobility infrastructures, energy and economic resource management.
The Challenge
The City Council wants to benefit from technology to foster local policies such as recycling and job placement of people at risk of social exclusion. For this reason, the aim is to promote a circular consumption model for electronic equipment - at present mainly computers - extending their life cycle and value, and promoting reutilisation - where vulnerable people can be trained to work in the repairing and delivery for reutilisation.
The municipality is looking to understand the potential role for DLT in promoting the circularity of electronic equipment, and how this would enable traceability in a way that non-DLT solutions cannot provide. They are thrilled to see practical demonstrations to help inform future infrastructure decisions.
This experience is a testbed with great potential for replicability across multiple European cities. The resulting model could be applicable in multiple circular economy environments related to reverse supply chain circuits, and very useful for mostly every large producer of waste electronic materials.
The project is a first step on a longer run: the aim is to extend this model to other stakeholders in the near future, extending the life of the e-waste generated by citizens, industries, shops and academic institutions all over the city and beyond.
Potential Challenge Areas
The initial solution is encouraged to address computer equipment in public possession.
The City Council currently manages local ‘Green Points’ in which e-waste is finally discarded.
The City Council has some early ideas regarding models to incentivise successful re-utilisation.
Promote broad vendor and citizen inclusivity, and open infrastructure.
Additional aspects are also encouraged:
Ensure the equipment finishes its life-cycle at a Green Point.
Understand the potential benefits of receiving information on the use that is being given to the 'renewed' equipment by the end user: how long it has been used, etc.