Of the 81 countries covered by a national e-waste policy, legislation or regulation, most (67) also applied Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
In countries where legislation included collection targets, the average collection rate was much higher at 35 per cent compared to 22.3 per cent worldwide.
In the 81 countries with instruments in place, one of the most frequently applied principles is EPR, which underpinned their respective national e-waste management system.
EPR aims to ensure that a producer - which in many cases where there is no registered manufacturer in a country also refers to the importer or distributor - is responsible for a product up to and including the post-consumer stage of its lifecycle.
67 of the 81 countries had legislation on EPR, 62 had legislation that referred to national or international environmental, health and safety standards, 46 had enshrined national e-waste collection targets in their regulations and 36 had done so for e-waste recycling targets at the national level.
It is essential to legislate such targets in order to monitor progress and stimulate the collection and recycling of e-waste.