Computer Aid International has launched an e-waste guide to help other civil society organisations around the world campaign for policy change.

The 52-page guide, Electronics and e-waste a booklet for advocacy, was developed in partnership with the Balkans E-Waste Management Advocacy Network and was funded by the European Union. It outlines the issues and contains practical information about how to go about communicating these to politicians, the media and the public.

It was written by Computer Aid’s environmental advocacy officer, Hayley Bowcock and is available for free online in six languages; English, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Albanian and Bulgarian.

Gladys Muhunyo, the charity's director of international programmes launched the guide at the UN’s Internet Governance Forum in Kenya and said: “We hope that this toolkit will enable civil society actors to push for change in their countries and bring about the essential first step in building the capacity to minimise the environmental, health and social impacts of electronics and e-waste.”

In the European Union the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive (WEEE) aims to reduce the amount of electronic equipment produced and encourage reuse and recycling. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that 50m tonnes of e-waste is generated globally each year. Computer Aid has recently been lobbying the European Parliament on proposals to introduce a reuse target for its members.

Muhunyo said: “There are many countries yet to define similar legislation and we continue to see the flow of e-waste from wealthier countries which are able to deal with e-waste safely and fairly, to countries without this capacity.”