Carlos Hernandez

With a degree in Chemical Engineering, for the last 33 years, Carlos has served as an environmental consultant in the integral WEEE management, pollution control, and circular economy. After completing his master's degree in environmental engineering, Carlos served as technical director of the Responsible Care Program on integrated management systems, environmental auditor for the Andean Development Corporation, CAF, and professor in different areas of environmental engineering. During the last 15 years, he has been involved in international cooperation projects related to the comprehensive management of electronic waste, as well as being director of the Sustainable Recycling Industries (SRI) project for the environmentally sound management of WEEE in Colombia, financed by Swiss cooperation.

For the last 6 years, Carlos has worked for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as coordinator for Latin America of the project “Strengthening of National Initiatives and Enhancement of Regional Cooperation for the Environmentally Sound Management of POPs in Waste of Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) in Latin American Countries”, a project that is financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is executed in 13 countries of the region. From there, he has had the opportunity to support the participating countries in the development of regulatory frameworks for the comprehensive management of WEEE, the construction of technical guides, the design of management systems, and the treatment of hazardous fractions such as flame-retardant plastics, with the aim of protecting health and the environment. Likewise, he has co-authored several publications related to this topic.