Operating Unit in Germany
UNU-ISP SCYCLE
Overview
SCYCLE, located in Germany, is UNU-ISP’s first Operating Unit and became operational on 1 January 2010. It integrates the activities of the former UNU/ZEF European Focal Point into its framework. The intent of SCYCLE is to contribute to UNU-ISP objectives, primarily by:
Enabling societies to reduce the environmental load of the production, use and disposal of especially but not exclusively, electrical and electronic equipment to sustainable levels through the development and promotion of independent, comprehensive and practical research as a sound basis for policy development and decision making.
Hence, SCYCLE stands for Sustainable Cycles, which are the key objectives of its work.
Within this context SCYCLE will:
- Conduct research on eco-structuring towards sustainable societies
- Develop interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder public-private partnerships
- Undertake education, training and capacity development
- Facilitate and disseminate practical, science-based recommendations to the United Nations and its agencies, governments, scholars, industry and the public
SCYCLE also hosts the Secretariat of the StEP (Solving the E-waste Problem) Initiative. StEP was launched in March 2007 and now consists of more than fifty stakeholders from industry, academia, government, international organizations and civil society committed to the development of applicable, holistic, science-based recommendations concerning the increasing e-waste problem. It also intends to expand the work of the Electronics Recycling Group (ERG) by extending its world-wide university network for post-graduate training and among others through the continuation of the StEP E-waste Summer School Series. It supports the realization of a more sustainable industrial-societal system (in which, for example, the waste products of one industry or sector become value-added inputs for another).
While there are many research centres focusing on production and consumption, SCYCLE is unique as its concept embraces a holistic approach, while its operations converge on the nexus of policy, design, re-use, recycling and capacity building, an approach that provides additional entry-points for essential multi-stakeholder collaborations
Structure
