The issue of e-waste trade from industrialised countries to the developing world has been a main focus of the e-waste and resource related debate of the last years. This new publication Where are WEEE in Africa provides new data and insights into the e-waste related situation in West-Africa. It provides figures on waste volumes, currently applied  recycling technologies as well as improvement options to reduce environmental impacts and to enhance resource recovery. Within the report Informal e-waste management in Lagos, Nigeria – socio-economic impacts and feasibility of international recycling co-operations a detailed study on the social impacts of the e-waste sector is provided. It focusses on the large second-hand and repair markets in one of Africa’s largest cities, e-waste collection and informal recycling, which provide jobs to a large number of informal workers.

All reports were developed in the framework of the project entitled «Building local capacity to address the flow of e-wastes and electrical and electronic products destined for re-use in selected African countries and to augment the sustainable management of resources through the recovery of materials in e-wastes». The project is funded through the generous support of the European Commission; the governments of Norway and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and the Dutch Recyclers Association (NVMP). The publication Where are WEEE in Africa was prepared by the Secretariat of the Basel Convention (SBC) in cooperation with the Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for the African Region (BCCC-Nigeria), the Basel Convention Regional Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for French-speaking countries in Africa (BCRC-Senegal), the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA), the Institute for Applied Ecology (the Öko-Institut), the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL) and the governments of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tunisia. (see also http://www.basel.int/Implementation/TechnicalAssistance/EWaste/EwasteAfricaProject/tabid/2546/Default.aspxhttp://www.basel.int/Implementation/TechnicalAssistance/EWaste/EwasteAfricaProject/tabid/2546/Default.aspx)