International Day for Disaster Reduction, International E-Waste Day, WEEE Forum

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION

Did you know:

• In 2021, There were 432 disastrous events related to natural hazards worldwide.

• And An estimated 252 billion US$ of economic damage was reported.

• Or that 44 per cent of disasters have been associated with floods.

• And Early warning saves lives – early warning by 24 hours can cut the ensuing damage by 30 per cent.

This year, given the damage wrought recently by hurricanes Fiona and Ian, as well as other natural disasters including wildfires and tornadoes, it’s fitting that we commemorate October 13 as the International Day for Disaster REDUCTION (IDDR). International Day for Disaster Reduction, October 13th, is an INTERNATIONAL day, established by the United Nations in 2009. It’s a day that encourages every citizen and government to take part in building more disaster-resilient communities and nations. Especially relevant in the era of climate change. 

In 2022, International Day will focus on Target G of the Sendai Framework: “Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to people by 2030.” Why does International Day for Disaster Reduction matter to us? It’s in the language of the Sendai Framework, which recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other stakeholders.

Click on the link in the Deeper Dive section of this story at theclimate.org/episodes to see what events are planned for IDDR around the globe. #EarlyWarningForAll,  #IDRRDay, #IDDRR 2022.

DEEPER DIVE: IDDR , Sendai Framework, IDDR Events

10/14/22—INTERNATIONAL E-WASTE DAY

Tomorrow is International E-Waste Day. This year, The UN predicts 50 million tons of small e-waste will be produced worldwide. Efforts are being made around the globe to reverse this growing trend. That’s why International E-Waste Day was established five years ago by the WEEE Forum (short for “waste electrical and electronic equipment”–to remind people of the importance of every single piece of electronics or electrical product that is forgotten about in household drawers around the world. 

Last year over 170 organizations from fifty countries worldwide supported International E-Waste Day. The theme of International E-Waste Day 2022? Recycle it all, no matter how small!

Why does International E-Waste Day matter to us? Two major reasons. First, over a half pound of silver, almost 5.5 ounces of gold, and over 1.5 ounces of palladium can be extracted from 2 tons of printed circuit boards. Second, as Pascal Leroy of the WEEE Forum said, “These devices offer many important resources that can be used in the production of new electronic devices or other equipment, such as wind turbines, electric car batteries, or solar panels – all crucial for the green, digital transition to low-carbon societies.”

Observe the day with #ewasteday. All e-waste-related awareness-raising activities are welcome: from social media, TV and radio campaigns to city or school e-waste collections or even artistic performances. Join the fun, but more importantly, spread the awareness. Reducing e-waste reduces pollution which helps maintain biodiversity which is a key component in arresting climate change.

DEEPER DIVE: WEEE-Forum, Recycling Product News, Circular Economy Europe

WEEE FORUM

So what is this serious organization with the cheery name anyway? The WEEE Forum (that’s W-E-E-E) is what the International Association of Electronic Waste Producer Responsibility Organizations calls itself. It is an association representing forty six producer responsibility organizations across the globe.

Its goal is to turn the extended producer responsibility principle into an effective electronic waste management policy approach through combined knowledge of the technical, business and operational aspects of collection, logistics, de-pollution, processing, preparing for reuse and reporting of e-waste.

As reported by The Climate Daily, extended producer responsibility is a policy approach under which producers are given a significant responsibility – financial and/or physical – for the treatment or disposal of post-consumer products. In other words, it’s an environmental strategy that makes the producer responsible for disposal of products. In other, other words, if manufacturers were responsible for all aspects of product design, packaging, shipping and disposal, they’d make less wasteful, less harmful and less toxic products in the first place.

The mission of the WEEE Forum is to be the world’s foremost e-waste competence center excelling in the implementation of the circularity principle. To that end, WEEE Forum is running several campaigns, including International E-Waste Day, FutuRaM–a circular economy, critical materials database, and a Mandatory Standards Campaign.

Why does WEEE Forum matter to us? How about the Mandatory Standards Campaign?

In February 2019 the WEEE Forum organized a dinner in Brussels that brought together decision makers and industry to discuss the case for introducing mandatory standards and continues to push this as a priority. Currently, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia and Luxembourg are the only EU Member States that have made the standards mandatory. 

DEEPER DIVE: WEEE-Forum, OCED on EPR