EPRON has joined the WEEE Forum. The WEEE Forum, set up in 2002, is the world’s largest multinational center of competence as regards the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). It is a Brussels-based, international not-for-profit association speaking for forty not-for-profit electrical and electronic equipment waste producer responsibility organizations (PRO). The forty PROs are based in Europe, Oceania, Africa, Asia, and the Americas: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Greece, France, Iceland, India, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Membership of the WEEE Forum amidst other benefits will afford EPRON the opportunity to acquire technical expertise to fulfill her responsibility as the Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) for the Electrical and Electronics sector, implementing producer responsibility obligation according to International best practice and in a cost-effective and transparent manner. With the knowledge that will be acquired, EPRON will be able to estimate and manage the total funds needed to run the EPR system under different scenarios and choose the best fit. This affiliation will provide the capacity to manage effectively the black-box data system to register and verify producers’ sales data, to determine market share, while ensuring confidentiality and accuracy. It will also enable the development of competence in reporting and linking of collection and recycling activities to global development goals such as Climate Action.

This development was supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded project“Circular Economy Approach for the Electronics Sector in Nigeria”, to bridge the knowledge gap from the international community and develop appropriate competence in the implementation of EPR in Nigeria. This project which is being implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and executed by the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) is aimed at empowering Nigeria to adopt a financially self-sustaining circular economy approach for electronics. It is targeted at contributing to GEF-7 core indicators in the area of reduction, elimination and avoidance of chemicals of global concern and their waste in the environment.

EPRON joined the WEEE Forum alongside three other producer responsibility organizations: Cobat RAEE Italy; Recyclia, Spain and Karo Sambhav, India. We feel confident that this association will propel us towards the quick attainment of circular economy in the EEE sector in Nigeria. Producers can feel rest assured that their obligations will be handled with the utmost competence and transparency.