In 2020, Romanians are encouraged to "be in the country as well as abroad" and hand over waste electrical and electronic equipment responsibly.
ECOTIC, in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests, launches on January 14, 2020 the national information campaign "Be in your country as well as abroad" in order to contribute to the awareness of the Romanian public regarding the correct behavior towards a guy waste: WEEE - waste electrical and electronic equipment. The campaign, which will last three months, will include a video spot and will be promoted on traditional media, TV, as well as on YouTube and social networks.
Starting with January 14, we invite the citizens of Romania to visit our campaign page fiiintara.ecotic.ro, to view the spot and learn more about the campaign.
Romania, as an EU member country, has the obligation to reach a target of 45% collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), and from 2021 this target will increase to 65% of the equipment placed on the market or 85% of WEEE generated.
The ECOTIC study "Quantification of waste electrical and electronic equipment generated in Romania, comparative situation 2019 vs 2015" reveals that in Romania are generated 5,5 kg of WEEE per capita, on average, per year. Of these, only 3 kg end up being collected properly at stores, collection points or in campaigns and end up in the treatment and recycling flow. While 2,5 kg end up in the landfill or in scrap metal streams, leading to severe and irreversible environmental pollution.
"The collection and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment, beyond environmental issues, is our guarantee that the resources they contain - whether we are talking about metals, plastic or glass - will be reused. Romania can no longer afford to support our current consumption model. This is true, in fact, for the entire planet, because the irrational exploitation of resources is a global problem. Our country needs to catch up with the rest of Europe and we need to do so at an accelerated pace, because the European Ecological Pact is nothing more than a new emphasis on our need to take care of nature and people.“, a declarat Costel Alexe, ministrul Mediului, Apelor și Pădurilor.
The collection and recycling of electrical and electronic waste has a very important stake from a dual perspective: on the one hand many of the WEEE contain substances that are extremely toxic and dangerous for the environment, and on the other hand, the WEEE has one of the higher recycling rates, 80-90% of their components can be recycled and reused in the economy as secondary raw materials (metals, precious metals, etc.).
ECOTIC aims, through this campaign, to promote good practices in the European Union and to inform the Romanian public on the separate collection of electrical and electronic waste available to all: electronics and home appliances stores, municipal collection points and campaigns which ECOTIC carries out regularly, in rural and urban areas.
In this context, ECOTIC will start in the coming weeks several zonal collection campaigns in Muntenia, Transylvania and Moldova.
"We are convinced that, by promoting these examples of good practices in the field of collection and recycling of electrical and electronic waste, we contribute to developing a new mentality and a responsible attitude of Romanian citizens towards the environment," said Valentin Negoiță, President of ECOTIC.