The E-waste Academy (EWA) is a pioneering concept in research and and aims to foster sustaining multi-stakeholder partnerships and collaboration on e-waste policy and management, looking at the e-waste issue in its entirety, rather than through the lens of a specific discipline.

Considering that e-waste poses most diverse challenges, including environmental, economic and social aspects, where all stakeholders need to participate in the development and even more the implementation of solutions, we propose to address both policymakers and government officials as well as small and medium sized companies (recyclers, refurbishers, pre-processors, etc) with an intended focus on developing/transition countries.

The vision for the EWA is to be the foremost forum available for stakeholders involved in e-waste system design as well as implementing solutions to share their knowledge, interact with experts and develop collaborative partnerships fostering high long-term, sustainable solutions and approaches on all policy-related areas related in e-waste - from policy to technology to economics to social aspects

The approach for the first E-waste Academy will be a regional one, with policymakers and SME operators in Western Africa as the target group and region. This will enable the organizers to take a more concentrated approach to stimulate fruitful discussion among policymakers and SME operators while also facilitating exchange of best practices and expert feedback, taking into account regional disparities. The overarching concept will be to replicate the E-waste Academy in different regions, ultimately weaving together academy results and thereby effectively guiding e-waste management dialogue and action at the international level.