South Africa is one of three partner countries in the Circular Electronics Initiative (CEI), a Swiss-funded programme running from 2025 to 2029, implemented in partnership with the African Circular Economy Network. South Africa joined the programme during the second phase of SRI, with activities beginning in late 2020.
South Africa enters the Circular Electronics Initiative as a well advanced CEI country, building directly on the foundations laid under the Sustainable Recycling Industries (SRI) programme. With a National WEEE Management Policy now gazetted and a strong base of standards, recyclers and civil society partners already in place, CEI’s role in South Africa is to turn these foundations into a fully functioning e-waste system.
Organized around the four overarching CEI outcomes (Policy, Normative, Collection & Treatment and Monitoring), South Africa will consolidate and build upon the results achieved under the SRI programme.
Developing national e-waste policies, EPR-based legislation and empowering public institutions.
Defining environmental and social standards, conformity assessment schemes and independent auditing and enforcement.
Strengthening collection systems, treatment, hazardous fraction solutions, and progressive formalization.
Building robust statistics on products and e-waste flows to measure progress and support EPR financing.
CEI will help put South Africa’s National WEEE Management Policy into practice. This includes updating the WEEE Policy Costing Framework, supporting the set up of a WEEE Policy Steering Committee, updating guidance for local governments, and hosting an annual symposium to track progress with government, producers, and civil society.
Five years into South Africa’s EPR Regulations, CEI will assess what is needed to make WEEE Norms and Standards mandatory. This includes a conformity assessment strategy, updated auditor tools, and consistent data reporting across Producer Responsibility Organisations. CEI will also train auditors and run pilot audits.
The project will further map South Africa’s e-waste collection system and build a national strategy, working with waste picker groups ARO and SAWPA on repair and refurbishment pilots, plus better income opportunities for waste pickers. Hazardous waste — including end-of-life batteries — is a key focus, supporting South Africa’s clean energy transition. CEI will also run local-language training, support repair and maintenance programmes, help establish a recyclers’ association.
South Africa currently lacks reliable data on how much e-waste moves through its economy. CEI wants to close this gap by building a baseline and mapping data systems with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the National Mineral Research Organisation (MINTEK).
Objective: to guide local government on all aspects of e-waste management
Aimed to support small business development in the e-waste management value chain.
Aimed at unlocking WEEE Policy-related finance opportunities.
Development of all key documentation, including minimum technical and operational requirements in the form of Norms and Standards for all types of WEEE Management operators.
https://weeearesa.org/