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WP1: Understanding existing standards & schemes

Work Package 1 will develop a comprehensive baseline and gap/obstacle analysis with the aim to:

  • Understand the main challenges associated with the recycling of valuable nand critical raw materials from key types of waste along the entire end-of-life chain including their collection and sorting, treatment, regulatory frameworks, illegal shipments/trade, technical, economic and market limitations;
  • Define the scope: waste streams and types of waste equipment relevant for recycling of valuable and CRMs, stages of the end-of-life chain, actors within these, treatment processes to be addressed in the scope of CEWASTE, and main and secondary beneficiaries of current end-of-life systems;
  • Understand scopes, objectives and designs of existing normative requirements (legislation, standards/certification systems and guidelines), and of international and EU waste management and shipment regulations in the field of treatment and shipments of waste; show gaps of existing normative requirements with a focus on the requirements of recycling of valuable and CRMs recovery, and obstacles for the broad adoption of standards in the market in order to understand how the current landscape can be leveraged for CEWASTE;
  • Develop a compact Theory of Change approach for the planned stakeholder process including understanding the desired impacts, expected outcomes and refining the proposed activities.

WP2: Developing sustainability & traceability requirements

Work Package 2 will define a set of normative requirements for the voluntary certification scheme. As far as possible, the set of requirements will be based on existing principles and standards and only where they are not sufficient to meet all CEWASTE objectives, new ones will be developed. The development of the deliverables will be supported through a stakeholder process coordinated in WP5. Objectives of WP2 include:

  • Define the environmental, social and governance principles, as well as a tack back management, technology and traceability requirements.
  • Develop new requirements where existing guidelines and standards are not sufficient to meet all CEWASTE objectives.
  • Ensure compliance and linkage to EU and international regulations.

WP3: Developing an assurance system and related verification procedures

Work Package 3 will develop and define an assurance system and related verification mechanisms that effectively ensure that take back systems, collection, transport and treatment facilities actually and reliably comply with current certification systems and the normative sustainability and traceability requirements defined in Work Package 2 in their daily operations. Special emphasis will be on finding a suitable and widely accepted balance between a high level of transparency and checks-and-balances, and the need to create a system that can be installed and maintained with reasonable efforts and cost implications.

With reference to existing certification schemes, auditing standards and good practice guides for assurance and certification systems, Work Package 3 will develop:

  • The assurance system including the verification mechanisms,
  • Certification procedures, and
  • Implementation guidelines, especially for verification mechanisms and auditing procedures

WP4: Validating the new voluntary scheme

The key objective of Work Package 4 is to validate the new voluntary scheme through pilots with stakeholders selected from the pool of project partners, chief among them the members of the European Electronics Recyclers Association (EERA) and of the WEEE Forum, and the Advisory Board. In addition, the public consultation process will be conducted in accordance with the ISEAL Assurance Code of Good Practice to ensure that additional interested players will be able to sign up for pilots, including waste holders, dealers, brokers and operators of treatment facilities.

This work package will also develop a roadmap for the long-term sustainability of the scheme.

Objectives of WP4 include:

  • Validate the normative requirements (WP2) and the assurance system (WP3) through targeted pilots.
  • Analyse the outcome of the pilots and improve the voluntary scheme according to its recommendations.
  • Develop a roadmap including recommendations for amending existing mechanisms (legislation, guidelines, standards and initiatives) with the new requirements and a plan for the future roll-out of the voluntary scheme.

WP5: Ensuring the long-term sustainability of the scheme

Work Package 5 aspires to ensure a transparent process that allows for contribution from a wide range of stakeholders, broad acceptance by all relevant entities that have an interest in the project’s areas of work; to communicate progress and to disseminate the essentials of the scheme. Specific objectives include:

  • Create an Advisory Board, ensuring that all key stakeholders are included in the conversation
  • Hold public consultation processes to allow for electronic contributions.
  • Communicate key results and welcome comments and contributions as widely as possible
  • Organise a final public event to present the key findings and the scheme.
  • Publish key project deliverables so as to ensure as long as lifetime as possible.