E-waste (WEEE) management, circular economy, material flow analysis, data science

SCYCLE is a UNITAR Programme as part of the Division for Planet with its offices at the UN Campus in Bonn (Germany). SCYCLE works to enable societies to reduce the environmental load from production, use and the disposal of ubiquitous goods and especially electrical and electronic equipment to sustainable levels by means of independent and both comprehensive and practical research and training providing more thorough fact bases for policy development and decision making. SCYCLE leads the global e-waste discussion. It is a founding member of the UN E-waste Coalition, and advances sustainable e-waste management strategies based on life-cycle thinking. https://www.scycle.info

The Consultant will assist to the research under SCYCLE projects such as Future Availability of Secondary Raw Materials (FutuRaM) for the European Union and Efficient Recycling of E-Waste through Automated and Intelligent Resource Dataflow (REWARD) for Norway.

FutuRaM aims to develop the Secondary Raw Materials knowledge base on the availability and recoverability of secondary raw materials (SRMs) within the European Union (EU), with a special focus on critical raw materials (CRMs). The project research will enable fact-based decision making for the recovery and use of SRMs within and outside the EU, and disseminate the data generated via an accessible knowledge base.

REWARD aims to develop an integrated information infrastructure to systematically identify reusable and recyclable materials in e-waste products while determining the associated social, environmental, and economic dimensions of circularity interventions. The material flow accounts of electronic electrical equipment and e-waste resources, along with social, environmental, and economic parameters will be fed to the integrated information infrastructure, facilitating automated and optimal transition of data and information on e-waste resources among e-waste actors.

The consultant will contribute to the scientific research and writing of deliverables in the FutuRaM and REWARD projects and other relevant work on sustainable development and circular economy carried out by the SCYCLE programme. This will be done in close cooperation with the UNITAR project team and other research and industrial partners in the consortium, ensuring that standards and requirements are met.

Specific tasks of the Consultant will include:

• Contribute to the analysis of product and waste composition data for several e-waste categories, products and components embedded within the developed concepts of the FutuRaM project, and the data gathering and analysis of downstream processing of e-waste under various treatment scenarios.
• Contribute to the:
  • High resolution material flow analysis to estimate the in-use stock of EEE based on the number of products put on the market (POM) from 1980 to 2022 and their subsequent flows to the waste stream in Norway. This involves data collection of POM, lifespan of products and the fate of post-use products in the waste stream. POM data collected by UNITAR from Norwegian trade statistics (SBB). The lifespan of each product type will be used to estimate the probability by which products become obsolete over time to forecast the e-waste generation from 2022 to 2050.
  • Estimation of the future POM based on an empirical relationship between POM and country-level scenarios for purchasing power parity (PPP) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Projections of e-waste will be examined under various scenarios of business as development of the conceptual and methodological framework to 2050.
  • Evaluation of the quantity of e-waste handled and/or recycled through various possible processes within and outside Norway by collecting data and information provided by the project partners (REVAC, Stena, Norsirk and Recipo).
• Collection and compilation of data and information on the material composition of EEE and e-waste in Norway from i) local upstream and downstream stakeholders, (ii) literature sources, and (iii) Urban Mine Platform.
• The consultant contributes to any other tasks assigned by the supervisor.

• Effective communication with partners and colleagues;
• Timely and quality preparation of all deliverables;
• High degree of professionalism.

• Excellent project management skills;
• Knowledge of life cycle analysis, digital product passports, and circular economy;
• Result-oriented, proactive, self-motivated and “hands-on” with the ability to prioritize work and multitask;
• Demonstrable oral and writing skills in English, with an ability to convey complex ideas in a creative, clear, direct and lively style;
• Able to work both independently and collaboratively;
• Interpersonal and communication skills to interact effectively with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• General computer proficiency (Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint).
• Proficiency in data analysis and performing computations of large datasets

The incumbent will directly report to the Senior Scientific Specialist (Statistics) of SCYCLE.

Education:

Advanced university degree or PhD in environmental engineering, environmental science, industrial ecology, product design or another relevant field.

Work Experience:

• At least three years of progressively experience in the circular economy area;
• At least three years of progressively experience in working on international and/or national research projects (e.g. National Projects or European projects) or projects of equivalent complexity;
• Experience in stakeholder engagement, preparation of publications, presentations and communications with external stakeholders;

Languages

Oral and written fluency in English (high proficiency).