To create jobs for the youth in TVET by deploying them in different industries, Rwanda’s only state-of-the-art e-waste dismantling and recycling facility in Bugesera District has equipped about 70 young people with skills in repair, maintenance and recycling of end of life electrical and electronic equipment.
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1.1. Ratification of Chemical-related multilateral environmental
Agreements.
Rwanda has ratified different international and regional chemical-related environmental agreements: Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal; Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade; Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Bamako Convention on the ban on the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa and Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.
The key environmental and climate change issues in Rwanda include land degradation, deforestation, dependency on biomass for fuel, soil, water and air pollution, a lack of environment-friendly transport systems, vulnerability of natural ecosystems, lack of low-carbon materials for housing and green infrastructure development, inadequate waste treatment for both solid and liquid waste, increase of electronic, industrial and nuclear/radioactive wastes, limited coordination in environmental and climate change governance, among others.
Rwanda has taken a strategic decision to pursue a green growth approach to development. It is now sixteen years since the adoption and implementation of the 2003 Environment Policy. This calls for stocktaking of the achievements, setbacks, future opportunities and alignment with global, regional and national development agenda.
Vision 2050 aspires to take Rwanda beyond high income to high living standards by the middle of the 21st century. To realise our full potential and drive towards this goal, Rwanda is committed to being a nation that has a clean and healthy environment that is resilient to climate variability and change and that supports a high quality of life for its citizens.
The policy of 2019 have many policy objectives and policy statements with two of addressing chemical and chemical related pollution.
Though Rwanda has procedure that deal with waste in general, these do not include specific provisions for E-waste. However, E-waste is distinct in terms of its generation and processing. Currently, the municipality is responsible of the management of general waste and citizens are only required to pay for collection and disposal services. However, E-waste cannot be handled in the same way as general wastes because of its unique composition, which include non-biodegradable materials that can be harmful to the environment. This requires specialized disposal methods, skills and special facilities.
There is growing number of personal electrical and electronic devices in institutions, households, business facilities, etc. Moreover, with the growth of the telecommunication sector, the number of citizens subscribing to the mobile network has been firmly growing over the years.
For example, between November 2014 and January 2015, a survey was carried out to determine the status of E-Waste in Rwanda2. The survey revealed that for the period ranging from 2010 to 2014:
Rwanda is a landlocked country located in the east of central Africa. It lies between 1°4´ and 2°51´south latitude, and 28°53´ and 30°53´ east longitude, and it covers an area of 26,338 km2. It lies approximately at 120 kilometres south of the Equator, at 1,100 kilometres from the Indian Ocean, at 1,920 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean, at 3,750 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea, and at 3,980 km from South Africa Cape. It is bordered by Uganda at the North, Tanzania at the East, Burundi at the South and the Democratic Republic of Congo at the West.
Gestion et Elimination des déchets dangereux
En ratifiant la Convention de Stockholm sur les Polluants Organiques Persistants (POPs), en avril 2004, le Maroc s’est engagé à mettre en œuvre les dispositions nécessaires pour honorer ces engagements au titre de cette Convention.
La gestion et l’élimination écologiquement rationnelle des Polychlorobiphényles (PCB) s’inscrit parmi les actions prioritaires du Plan National de Mise en œuvre- PNM au regard des délais fixés par la convention pour se débarrasser de ces produits dangereux. Le Programme National de Gestion et d’Elimination Sécurisée des PCB (Programme PCB) vise la mise en place d’un cadre réglementaire de gestion des PCB, le renforcement des capacités nationales en matière de gestion écologiquement rationnelle des PCB et l’élimination sécurisée des appareils à PCB pur et ceux qui en sont contaminés et inventoriés au niveau national.
Phase I du programme PCB :
La première phase lancée en 2010 et achevée en juin 2017 a abouti aux principales réalisation suivantes :
Phase II du programme PCB :
La deuxième phase « rendre durable la gestion et l’élimination des PCB » lancée en mars 2018 pour une durée de 3 ans et dont les résultats attendus sont :
Ce film documentaire, a été projeté par l’ONG ASDI Togo, avec l’appui financier de IPEN, the International Pollutants Elimination Network, lors de l’atelier national de sensibilisation sur les risques liés à l’exposition aux substances contenues dans les déchets électroniques. Cliquer ci-dessous pour voir ce film documentaire, constitué de témoignages très poignants