ECOSWEEE Project: Conclusions and future directions in e-waste management

de | February. 3, 2025 | Home, News

Final conference of the project ECOSWEEE, funded by the EC under the LIFE programme, took place on 29 January in Brussels, in the presence of representatives of the European Commission, stakeholders participating in the project, manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment, retailers, recyclers and central public authorities.it's also local.

ABOUT ECOSWEEE

OTRs from 11 countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Belgium, France, Norway, Switzerland) conducted 20 pilot initiatives, one of which is developed by ECOTIC in Romania. The pilot campaigns served as experiments to explore the effectiveness, usefulness and viability of various strategies for collecting small electronic waste and incentivizing consumers in this regard. Different methods of stimulating the increase in the collection rate of small electronic waste and portable batteries were tested. ECOTIC was an active partner in this project funded by the European Commission through the LIFE program and coordinated by WEEE Forum and UNITAR testing the attractiveness of a 50 lei reward for a mobile phone, tablet or laptop.

PROJECT CONTEXT ECOSWEEE

Since 2019, EU Member States have failed to reach the minimum annual collection rate, which has increased to 65%, calculated based on the quantities of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market in the previous three years. At category level, for Small EEE (categories 5 and 6), the collection rate is very low, and the EU has committed to identifying solutions to improve collection, including through the European Green Deal. In 2023, the European Commission published a set of recommendations for Member States aimed at improving the collection of small WEEE, which are considered more difficult to collect and essential in terms of the critical raw materials they contain. The reason is that important resources are being abandoned and forgotten in drawers, and obtaining Critical Raw Materials from as many sources as possible, including from recycling, is one of the EU's priorities.

PROJECT CONCLUSIONS

  • The most important collection strategy remains the placement of COLLECTION POINTS. Collection points should be strategically located taking into account visibility, traffic and accessibility. Proximity is an aspect that certainly determines the correct disposal of small WEEE.
  • Utilizarea postal services It did not yield very good results and there are aspects to be explored in depth related to limitations related to legislative and security aspects.
  • Pickups from consumers' homes, for small WEEE, are only effective from non-household users, the costs being very high.
  • Joining the collection by supporting a charitable causes led to very good results in Ireland.
  • Non-financial rewards (concert tickets, sports equipment, shopping vouchers) are attractive but the high costs make it impossible to use this strategy in the long term.
  • Contests and raffles They can be complementary to other strategies. Their use in long-term educational programs in schools is recommended.
  • practice Guarantee System – Return It has not been sufficiently tested, and preliminary conclusions have identified many challenges: the lifespan of the devices, logistical and financial difficulties, and the economic pressure on consumers.

 

ABOUT THE PILOT PROJECT DEVELOPED IN ROMANIA

 

In 2023, ECOTIC carried out a market research which shows the reality of the hibernation of unused small equipment. The study was similar to what was done in other countries and the data could be compared. The campaign "Come with your old mobile phone/tablet/laptop to Altex", organized by ECOTIC in Romania, aimed to promote the collection and reuse or recycling of laptops, tablets and mobile phones. The project was carried out in the Altex store network which at the time included, in May 2024, 130 shops. Participants who handed in their devices at these stores received vouchers worth 50 lei, each with a surrender limit of three devices per person. 2545 vouchers were given out during the campaign. The collected devices were evaluated by those at buyback.ro to determine their reuse potential. Most of the collected equipment ended up for recycling, being extremely old equipment or without repair potential. Half of the mobile phones handed over were non-smart. Although the campaign was initially scheduled to run for 1,5 months, the very high demand led to the limit number of vouchers being reached in the first 24 hours.The main conclusion of this campaign was that 50 lei (10 EUR) is an incentive that can determine the population to bring very old equipment that is forgotten in drawers. It would not bring added value to the reuse area because, at least in Romania, it is easy to value a newer phone, there are multiple platforms in this regard. Also, such campaigns involve, compared to the quantity collected, very high costs. We mention the fact that ECOTIC was congratulated by the project coordinators and by the representatives of the European Commission for the pilot project carried out in Romania, during the conference in Brussels.

CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT AT EUROPEAN LEVEL

In March 2020, the European Commission adopted Circular Economy Action Plan, one of the main directions of European Green DealIn this context, a series of legislative measures have been implemented, including the Directive providing for the Right to Repair, as well as the Critical Raw Materials Regulation. During the dialogue held on January 29, at the final conference of the project, with European Commission representative, Guillemette Vachey, a variety of issues were discussed, including: the path to be followed until the approval and publication of the New WEEE Directive/Regulation in 2026, which will bring to the forefront the requirements of the Circular Economy Package, proposals to improve legislation in the field, including by modifying the methodology for calculating WEEE collection and recycling targets based on the life cycle of the equipment. The participants at the event also highlighted the need to intensify consumer information and awareness campaigns, the development of collection infrastructure, and the importance of WEEE treatment standards. Valentin Negoiță, President of ECOTIC, supported the need for accountability and collaboration of all actors – producers, public authorities, retailers, collectors-recyclers, consumers – in achieving collection and recycling objectives, as well as the adoption of firm measures to reduce parallel flows of WEEE, which represent over a third of the volume of waste generated at European level and which constitute significant losses of raw materials.

"We are very pleased to have participated in this project, the conclusions of which will shape the decisions taken at European level and implicitly the future legislation in the field. I would also like to thank our partners in this project, Altex Romania and BuyBack.ro, who made a remarkable contribution, as well as the ECOTIC project team for the successful implementation of the project,” said Dragoș Călugăru, General Director of ECOTIC.

 

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