On October 13, the first edition of eWaste Day takes place, the international day for waste electrical and electronic equipment.
International Day for Electrical and Electronic Waste (WEEE) is initiated by the WEEE Forum and supported by 26 of its member organizations and involves 40 organizations from 20 countries around the world. The event is meant to bring to the public's attention the importance of WEEE recycling and to encourage consumers to hand over their own electrical and electronic waste for recycling, in order to increase recycling rates in the future.
It is estimated that in 2018, 50 million tons of electrical and electronic waste will be generated worldwide. Half of them are personal devices such as computers, smartphones, tablets and televisions, the rest being large appliances and heating and cooling equipment.
Only 20% of WEEE generated globally is recycled each year, which means that 40 million tonnes of WEEE are either dumped, burned or traded illegally and treated improperly. This is despite the fact that 66% of the world's population has legislative regulations on electrical and electronic waste. This results in a huge loss of valuable raw materials in the supply chain and causes serious problems for health, the environment and society due to illegal shipments of waste to developing countries.
Karmenu Vella, Comisarul european pentru Mediu, Afaceri Maritime și Pescuit, a declarat: “Aceasta este o inițiativă importantă și binevenita, deoarece deșeurile electrice si electronice continuă să crească ca volum, iar materialele conținute de acestea sunt esențiale pentru fabricarea de noi produse și pentru satisfacerea cererii consumatorilor de produse electronice. Chiar și în Uniunea Europeana, care este lider în reciclarea DEEE-urilor, doar 35% din deșeurile electronice sunt raportate oficial ca fiind colectate și reciclate. Initiativele de creștere a gradului de conștientizare au un impact pozitiv asupra ratelor de colectare si vor ajuta țările membre să atingă țintele Directivei DEEE și, tododata, vor ajuta Europa să dezvolte economia circulară.”
In this context, ECOTIC, as a member of the WEEE Forum, it organizes together with its partners and collaborators activities aimed at promoting the separate collection and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment.
Between October 8-12, the ECOTIC Caravan will visit several schools in Bucharest, informing students and teachers about the importance of collecting and recycling, in general, and WEEE in particular. The ECOTIC caravan, a mobile exhibition featuring 10 types of electrical and electronic equipment disassembled to highlight recyclable content, along with other useful information on the importance of recycling, will be present on October 13, between 10:30 and 16:30 at the entrance to the Natural Park Cowboys. On this occasion, visitors will benefit from guided tours of the Caravan and the Văcărești Park.
"We support the first edition of International eWaste Day by organizing information activities through the ECOTIC Caravan in educational institutions and companies in order to make citizens aware of the benefits of recycling waste electrical and electronic equipment and capitalizing on raw materials in the context of transition to circular economy," said Valentin Negoiță , President of ECOTIC.