Page 29 - Implementation of ITU-T international standards for sustainable management of waste electrical and electronic equipment: The path to a circular economy in Costa Rica

Implementation of ITU-T international standards for sustainable management of waste
electrical and electronic equipment: The path to a circular economy in Costa Rica

1.2 Recommendation ITU-T L.1032 “Guidelines and certification
schemes for e-waste recyclers”

These Recommendation requirements for WEEE managers directly related to ICT who perform
collection, dismantling, and recovery. The Recommendation aims primarily to support the
informal sector to formalize its practices in an environmentally friendly manner, to protect
workers, and to enable its integration into the formal WEEE management sector.

The objectives of this Recommendation are:
– Support the informal sector to formalize its working practices.
– Recommend improvements and measures to boost environmentally friendly sector
activities and to protect the sector’s workers.
– Identify the steps, needs, and methodology to transform the informal sector into a formal
one.

The Recommendation emphasizes the simultaneous application, at the national level, of in-
country legislation and technical requirements applicable to WEEE managers.

Figure 4 shows the scope of Recommendation ITU-T L.1032 implementation in Costa Rica.

Figure 4 – Scope of Recommendation ITU-T L 1032 implementation in Costa Rica

2 WEEE’s sustainable management in Costa Rica: the path to a
circular economy

2.1 Demographic and economic characteristics

Costa Rica is a small country, located in Central America, which is divided into seven provinces.
It is ranked 62 in the world in the Human Development Index (HDI), therefore in the group
nd
of countries with a remarkably high human development index (United Nations Development
Programme, 2020). Figure 5 shows the country’s main demographic and economic indicators.

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