Electronic waste numbers .. conflicts between the official and private authorities

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Farah Atiyat

Amman - While the rates of electronic and electrical waste numbers in Jordan collide with an explicit conflicting between the official and private authorities, the Ministry of Environment yesterday launched new instructions for the way to deal with these waste, which is estimated by statistics at about 60 thousand tons annually annually.While Jordan lacks recent data that determines the size of these generated waste, official statistics suggest annual rates between 30 - 60 thousand tons according to the Ministry of Environment, while the private sector working in the field of recycling is determined by rates ranging from 20 % to 30 % of the total, which requiresUrgent and effective solutions to manage and dispose of them.In light of the heavy minerals contained such as bullets, which would cause various health problems such as brain damage, allergic reactions and cancer, solutions had to be developed in health and environmental ways, by preparing instructions to manage them by the Ministry of Environment, and in"Fixed organic pollutants and other chemical emissions" project.The instructions launched by the ministry yesterday, during a workshop organized in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program in Jordan, aimed at funding from the global environmental facility, to organize the procedures for managing electronic and electronic and electrical equipment and waste, in safe, environmentally and healthy ways.Magda Assaf, Deputy Resident Representative in Jordan, Magda Assaf, pointed out during the opening, "The importance of this vital project in helping the Kingdom to follow the best environmental practices adopted in the field of sound management environmentally for electrical and electronic waste, and health care.".The project aims, according to her saying, "Protecting human health and the environment, by reducing and reducing fixed organic pollutants, which are related to public waste management activities, and the application of a environmentally sound management of waste of various kinds, in line with internationally approved international specifications".She pointed out that "Jordan does not have recent data on the volume of electronic and electrical waste, but its percentage globally is estimated at 55 thousand tons per year, which is 5.4 kg per person annually, which are very high indicators..The results of electronic and electrical waste survey in homes, which were implemented by the General Statistics Department in the year 2018, indicated that the amount of waste resulting from homes at the Kingdom level amounted to about 8.735 million devices, 13.446 tons.In turn, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment, Dr. Muhammad Al -Khushashneh, stressed that “the waste issue is urgent and modern, due to the increasing quantities, which reach between 1 % to 2 % of the total solid waste generated annually in Jordan, which ranges between 30 to 60 thousand tonsThroughout the year".According to him, these proportions depend on “on the source of the income and the lifestyle used, where the rate of generation of one individual for electronic and electrical waste in Jordan reaches about 1.5 kg annually, while official statistics indicated that the percentage of those who own cell phones reached 116 % of the Kingdom's population, i.e. at the rate of two phones for each individual.He added that, according to this, it was necessary to develop binding legislation to deal with it, represented in electronic and electrical waste instructions, issued in the beginning of last February, with the aim of determining the ways to get rid of them, and determine the responsibility of each party separately, "warning of waste burning operationsElectronic and electrical, because it contains dioxins with dangerous emissions.He pointed out that "the Greater Amman Municipality managed to identify about 284 companies in Jordan, generated about a thousand tons of electronic and electrical waste per year.".According to the Survey of the Statistics Department itself, the Capital Governorate recorded the highest percentage in terms of the amount of electronic waste, amounting to 46 %, while the lowest percentage in Tafila Governorate, amounting to six percent.The director of the waste directorate in the Ministry of Environment, Hajar Hijri, indicated that three sites were recently chosen in the Greater Amman Municipality, the Aqaba Economic Zone, Zarqa Governorate, and Hinger in the Irbid municipality to collect electronic and electrical waste, noting that a consulting company will be chosen with the aim of designing sites in a way that matches and practicesAnd international standards in this field..As for the general manager of the Jordanian Metal Melial Factory, Hassan Al -Abou Al -Aboura, during his review, he confirmed the experience of his laboratory in recycling electronic and electrical waste, supplying, and disposing of it, that the volume of waste generated annually in Jordan ranges between 20 % to 30 % of the total solid waste.And that "the company has exported about 20 tons of waste, while preparing a similar amount to export it in the coming period.Electrical and electronic waste, for example, include broken or old TVs, computer screens, central processing units, and ground and cellular phones, according to what was stated in the guide for dismantling electrical and electronic waste for recycling purposes in Jordan.The evidence data pointed out that the global production of electronic waste for its sake is to reach 120 % million tons annually, by the year 2050, if the wheel of production continues as the same.A previous report revealed the increase in the annual global value of this waste by 62.5 billion dollars, which exceeds the gross domestic product of the most countries.Consumer electronics constitute 40 % of the bullets in the waste dumps, which would cause various health problems such as brain damage, allergic reactions and cancer.On the most common classifications for electrical and electronic waste, the guide was defined by thermal exchange equipment, screens, display devices, lamps, large and small equipment and information technology.The required recycling operations are summarized in manual operations, automatic waste transformation in specialized facilities with large and heavy mechanisms, and a juvenile of operations that combine manual and automatic work.