The Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for the African Region organized a regional webinar on February 27, 2025. The webinar was organized to share the findings from a pilot study on the management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) containing plastics in e-waste recycling, carried out at two e-waste recycling facilities in Lagos, Nigeria.

The pilot was part of a larger Project on the Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) of POPs in Articles, implemented by the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and funded by the European Union.

The study set out to determine if the facilities and their practices were in line with the Basel & Stockholm Convention guidelines for the ESM of wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with POPs. It also sought to determine areas of possible technical assistance in helping such facilities meet the requirements of the guideline.

The webinar was attended by over 60 participants from several African countries spanning across various sectors such as Government, NGOs, Recyclers, Academia and so on.

The webinar also provided the opportunity for countries within the African Region who are successfully implementing the guideline to share experiences.

Key recommendations from the webinar included:

1. The need to strengthen national policies aligned with the conventions,
2. Investing in Best Available Technologies (BAT)
3. Expanding training programs, increasing public awareness, and fostering international collaboration.

The webinar was a key step toward improving the management of POPs in e-waste recycling in Africa.

Click here to download presentations from the webinar