E-Waste Disposal in Tanzania. Analysis of Statutory and Regulatory Framework

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2018 in the subject Law - Miscellaneous, grade: 1, , course: LLB, language: English, abstract: Electronic waste (e-waste) is a term used loosely to refer to obsolete, broken, unusable or irreparable electronic devices like televisions, CPUs, computer monitors (flat screen and cathode ray tubes, laptops, printers, scanners, and associated wiring The definition of e-waste is extended to include other second hand e-products which are being exported from their countries of original to other developed countries. E-waste management is a global concern and it becomes a priority as the world experiences tremendous technological innovations, countries are being forced to develop and adopt new models for the collection and environmentally sound disposal of this waste. In Tanzania there is no specific legislation with regards to the management of e-waste disposal; its legal setting through EMA covers the issue of e-waste disposal in a general context. It clusters e-waste together with other solid waste. The Act doesn¿t have any specific provisions on e-waste. The Act under Part IX considers e-waste in general context as hazardous waste thus making its regulation and management ineffective. This research tests the hypothesis on whether there is a legal lacuna with respect to statutory and regulatory framework dealing with e-waste disposal in Tanzania, whether statutory and regulatory framework in Tanzania, with regards to e-waste disposal is sufficient and effective in protecting, preventing and controlling e-waste disposal in Tanzania and whether the establishment of specific e-waste policy and enactment of specific legislation regarding e-waste disposal in Tanzania would amount to equitable solution over e-waste management. The main objective of the study is to identify legal lacuna that exist on the management e-waste disposal in Tanzania, to make an analysis of the statutory and regulatory framework with regards to e-waste disposal and to recommend establishment of effective legislation with regards to e-waste management in Tanzania. In realizing the objective; the research and made extensive analysis of legal framework on management of e-waste disposal; and various findings are discussed in connection with the interviews and questionnaire and in the final end the research recommends establishment of e-policy, regulatory authority and enactment of specific policy to cover for the management of e-waste disposal.