South Africa has concluded its five-year Sustainable Recycling Industries (SRI) project, which ran from 2020 to 2025 as part of the global SRI programme. What progress has been made over these past five years and what’s next?
Led by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), funded by Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and jointly managed by Empa and the World Resources Forum (WRF), the SRI project was delivered by a local team of three experts: Susanne Yvonne Karcher, Paul Jones and Aysha Lotter.
SRI was the development driver of the country’s first draft National Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Policy as well as minimum technical and operational standards for e-waste operators. The programme also supported small business development and launched a national public education platform, known as the “WEEE are SA” website. Together, these outcomes lay the foundation for systematically building long-term, inclusive e-waste solutions, expanding reuse and recycling while also creating space for waste reclaimers in the system.
As the country prepares for the introduction of a new programme aimed at building on the progress made under SRI (which will be known as the Circular Electronics Initiative [CEI]), we reflect on the work and lasting impact of the SRI chapter so far.
Where it all started
The SRI programme is a global initiative funded by SECO to help developing economies build sustainable e-waste systems and enable better management of WEEE or ‘e-waste’.
South Africa joined the programme in 2020. A multidisciplinary team led local implementation in partnership with all levels of government, academia, Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs), and industry stakeholders, including recyclers. The project also built on lessons from fellow African SRI countries, namely Ghana and Egypt, to help shape solutions that were both country-specific and culturally relevant for WEEE management.
Delivery goals that shaped a new system for e-waste
Since its launch, beginning in some countries as early as 2012, the SRI programme aimed to strengthen circular economy models in developing countries by supporting policy development, the introduction of normative requirements (e.g. in the form of standards), and strengthening industry capacity, especially around WEEE-related waste streams. It also promoted higher environmental and social standards, with a strong focus on integrating waste reclaimers through collaboration and knowledge sharing.
In South Africa, SRI set out to:
- Develop a National WEEE Policy as part of a broader regulatory framework for responsible e-waste management;
- Develop Norms and Standards that provide WEEE management activity based on minimum technical and operational requirements and seek to support collaboration between formal WEEE operators (including recyclers, collection service providers, and transporters) and reclaimers, enabling them to work together in a mutually beneficial way;
- Establish a voluntary Conformity Assessment Scheme, introducing fair and consistent minimum requirements for all WEEE operators;
- Support the growth of SMMEs under safer, environmentally sound working conditions in the developing e-waste management sector;
- Identify and investigate problematic waste streams, including lithium-ion batteries, solar PV panels, and e-waste plastics towards finding local solutions that can safely handle such WEEE types while harnessing their material value;
- Expand public awareness and improve access to information through the WEEE are SA platform; and,
- Integrate academic research into evidence-based policymaking.
Milestones in SA’s e-waste transformation
As SRI National Project Manager Susanne Karcher explains, “The SRI project, which ran in South Africa from 2020 to mid-2025, was designed from the outset to deliver key reforms and tools that would shape the future of e-waste management in the country.”
During its implementation, the project:
- Saw the DFFE gazette a draft of the National WEEE Policy in 2024;
- Developed the first draft of National Norms and Standards, shaped by public input and grounded in real-world application;
- Conducted pilot audits at four WEEE facilities and trained registered PROs to prepare for compliance audits;
- Contributed to the development of nationally accredited WEEE management training curricula through MICTSETA (NQF Level 3) and EWSETA (NQF Level 4);
- Launched the ‘WEEE are SA’ public knowledge platform in 2024 to improve education and accessibility;
- Produced practical toolkits, including the Municipal WEEE Compass, to help local governments and small e-waste businesses implement responsible practices; and,
- Hosted webinars and workshops on high-impact waste streams, including lithium-ion batteries, solar PV panels, and e-waste plastics.
Beyond SRI: What the future holds for e-waste in SA
Now that the SRI project has reached completion, the focus has shifted to full-scale implementation. Parallel to its preparations for a final gazetting of the future WEEE policy, the DFFE is establishing a WEEE Policy Steering Committee to guide the national rollout. The WEEE as a SA platform will continue through Circular South Africa, now with a modular Masterclass training course that includes six self-paced online learning modules, soon to be open to the public.
Despite significant progress, several challenges remain:
- Gaps in municipal knowledge, funding, staffing, and infrastructure;
- The need for meaningful, safe (for people and the environment), and fair integration of the informal sector;
- A lack of local facilities to process recovered e-waste materials and the need for investment and collaboration through public-private partnerships; and,
- The need for a harmonised approach to EPR implementation, including consistent targets and transparent, third-party-verifiable key performance indicators for all WEEE-related PROs.
From policy drafts and technical standards to training resources and public tools, the work completed through SRI has laid a strong foundation that can continue to guide and support compliant, inclusive e-waste management in South Africa long after the project’s formal closure.
Watch this space for more about the Circular Electronics Initiative (CEI), the next chapter in South Africa’s e-waste journey. This new programme will focus on policy implementation, practical guidance, and support across the full lifecycle of everything that lets us plug in.
“The new CEI initiative will carry forward the same work ethic as SRI, leaving no stone unturned in identifying and collaborating with partners across South Africa’s WEEE sector,” explains Susanne Karcher. “Our goal is to drive continuous improvement in e-waste management, environmentally, socially, and economically.”