Page 42 - 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

Figure 16 - Comparison of methodologies to estimate WEEE

This decision could be taken thanks to the fact that:
a) Imports databases of the Directorate General of Customs of the Ministry of Finance are
very robust in terms of the information they present. Databases contain information such
as international trade codes of the Harmonized System (HS codes), importer identification,
net and gross weights of each import during the reported period, and type of merchandize
(new or used).
b) Databases cover more than 15 years, which allows estimates with sufficient statistical
validity to be made.
c) The Executive Committee for the Integral Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (CEGIRE) has worked on the calculation of EEE average useful lifetimes in
Costa Rica, which had been already reviewed by UNU.
d) Information is available from the National Household Survey (ENAHO). This survey
provides information on the ownership (inventory) of televisions, cell phones and PCs in
households. The following considerations were made:

– Flat-panel TVs: the information is reported as number of households with TVs, so a
minimum of one TV per household was assumed to estimate the inventory.
– Cell phones: the information is reported as number of households with cell phones
and number of cell phones per household.
– PCs: the information is reported as number of homes with computers, so a minimum
of one computer per household was assumed in order to estimate the inventory.

e) Surveys of managers and importers were made, as required by the consumption-based
methodology, which, in turn, helped to assess the WEEE management national system.

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