While the Rio 2016 Olympics have come to an end, the facts remain that of the 21 Latin American countries, e-waste regulations are in place only in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. But in the absence of a national strategy, most of them only operate at a local level.

Meanwhile, only Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico have R2-certified facilities, an internationally recognised standard for responsible recycling. This is partly due to limited legal requirements, a lack of awareness of pollution control during recycling and limited training opportunities.

Overall, in much of the developing world there is a lack of systems covering e-waste management through the different stages of collection, pre-processing (to liberate components from the waste) and end-processing (refining and disposing of materials). Often there is insufficient funding to support technology transfer and a sophisticated recycling industry. Establishing modern infrastructure requires substantial technological know-how, large investments in industrial equipment and environmental control measures.

The wide involvement of the informal sector also makes it difficult to establish effective systems to collect e-waste from consumers. Consumers’ low awareness is another barrier. Courtesy of www.scidev.net

At least here in the UK and Europe, regulations exist, meaning Companies like Secure Data Recycling are ensuring that e-waste is processed properly.