The Second International Conference on Hazardous Waste RESPEL took place in Bogota, Colombia, from 18th to 20th November 2008, organized by the Colombian Ministry of Environment (MAVDT) in cooperation with various national and international organizations (GTZ, Philips, Empa, Cleaner Production Center Medellin among others).
The main objective of the Conference which was atttended by almost 1'000 participants (out of which almost 50% coming from the private sector) was to strengthen the country's capacity for environmentally sound management of hazardous waste through the development of the areas of advocacy, promotion and exchange of information and national and international experiences.
The Conference which was attended by the Executive Secretary of the Secretariate of the www.basel.int ">Basel Convention, Mr. Katharina Kummer, had a special focus on Extended Producer Responsibility in hazardous waste management waste, particulary also focusing on e-waste management.
As side events technological platforms were organized in order to enable and facilitate national and international knowledge transfer and cooperation between Colombian enterprises engaged or interested in providing services in the management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and international e-waste recyclers. The platform was focusing on treatment and recycling technologies. More information here.
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During the academic session, EMPA was supporting the event with the following presentations:
- Ecological and Economical Optimization of the manual Disassembly of a Desktop PC (D. Ott)
- Extended Producer Responsibility for Electrical and Electronic Products - the European Experience (P. Bornand)
- The Swiss e-waste Management System/Recycling Technologies (H. Böni)
- E-waste Initiative Colombia: Retrospective, Advances and Outlook (D. Ott)
