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Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) is currently the largest growing waste stream. It is hazardous, complex and expensive to treat in an environmentally sound manner, and there is a general lack of legislation or enforcement surrounding it. Today, most e-waste is being discarded in the general waste stream. Of the e-waste in developed countries that is sent for recycling, 80 per cent ends up being shipped (often illegally) to developing countries such as China, India, Ghana and Nigeria for recycling. Within the informal economy of such countries, it is recycled for its many valuable materials by recyclers using rudimentary techniques. Such globalization of e-waste has adverse environmental and health implications. Furthermore, developing countries are shouldering a disproportionate burden of a global problem without having the technology to deal with it. In addition, developing countries themselves are increasingly generating significant quantities of e-waste.

At the second PACC Multipartite Review Meeting in August 2011 it was agreed that Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) would be incorporated into PACC pilot demonstration projects. This report documents the planning of the PACC CBA work program, outputs and impacts to date, and next steps for the coming 12 months. The focus of the report is an evaluation of three CBA training workshops which were run between November 2011 and February 2012.

Report from the PACC project