Global initiative launched to tackle WEEE
A new global public-private initiative has been launched to address the issue of electronic and electrical waste (WEEE). Called Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP), the aims of the initiative are:* To standardize recycling processes globally to harvest valuable components in WEEE* To extend the life of products and markets for their reuse, and* To harmonize world legislative and policy approaches to WEEE.Major high-tech manufacturers, including Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Dell, Ericsson, Philips and Cisco Systems, join UN, governmental, NGO and academic institutions, along with recycling / refurbishing companies as charter members of StEP.'There's more than gold in those mountains of high-tech scrap,' says Ruediger Kuehr of the United Nations University, which will host the StEP Secretariat in Bonn. 'This partnership is committed to salvaging these increasingly precious resources and preventing them from fouling the environment.'