After the success recorded in 2018, the second edition of International E-Waste Day takes place on October 14, 2019. International WEEE Day is an initiative of the WEEE Forum and has the right aim to encourage users to hand them in correctly leading to an increase in collection and recycling rates.
Last year, more than 50 organizations from 40 countries around the world organized many types of promotional activities, from conferences and seminars, to street and school collection activities, to social media campaigns, guides and online games.
According to the UN, only 20% of global e-waste is recycled annually, meaning 40 million tonnes of WEEE end up in landfill, incinerated or traded illegally, or treated in a sub-standard way. All these lead to huge losses of valuable raw materials and cause serious health, environmental and social problems through illegal transfers of waste to developing countries.
Pascal Leroy, CEO of the WEEE Forum, said: “The volume of electrical and electronic waste is constantly increasing and contains many valuable and hazardous materials that should be recovered or treated properly. Although consumer awareness of how to properly dispose of e-waste is growing, we still struggle to ensure that e-waste is collected and treated by organizations that have the correct facilities and channels in place, ensuring that this is done in an appropriate manner, in safe conditions and with care for the environment."
In 2018, European Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella expressed his support for E-Waste Day saying: “This is exactly the kind of event Europe needs. It raises awareness of the importance of WEEE, but goes further by highlighting what you can do to manage, reduce and recycle."
Starting from 2021, the minimum collection rate to be achieved annually will be 65% of the average weight of appliances placed on the market in the previous three years or, alternatively, 85% of the generated WEEE. Such a high collection rate is impossible to achieve without consumer involvement, as currently only 35% of e-waste is officially reported as collected and recycled, and lack of public awareness prevents states from developing circular economies for electronic equipment.
The volume of electrical and electronic waste is constantly increasing and contains many valuable and hazardous materials that should be recovered or treated properly. Although consumer awareness of how to properly dispose of e-waste is growing, we still struggle to ensure that e-waste is collected and treated by organizations that have the correct facilities and channels in place, ensuring that this is done in -an appropriate way, in safe conditions and care for the environment.
Achievements within the "Clean city with recycled e-Waste" project
74 public/private and academic institutions participate in the "Clean City with Recycled e-Waste" project. A total of 88 dumpsters were installed (80 for small e-waste and 8 for large e-waste). It is gratifying that more and more institutions and representatives of public authorities support the project and get involved in overcoming the created environmental crisis. This September, we also provided another 40 dumpsters for schools in the republic as part of the campaign launched by Hai Moldova, and we set ourselves the goal during the month of October to collect as much e-Waste as possible.
Over the course of October, around 60 thousand pupils and students from over 70 educational institutions in the country are involved in various promotion and awareness activities. It is gratifying that more and more institutions and representatives of public authorities and economic agents support the project and get involved in overcoming the created environmental crisis.
With the occasion International e-Waste Day, the Waste Recovery Association, invites all project beneficiaries "Clean city with recycled e-Waste" but also the whole community to actively participate in environmental protection actions by promoting recycling and capitalizing on the seventh resource, namely recyclable "e-Waste". The goal is to collect as much e-Waste as possible in the month of October and rid institutions of historically accumulated but also extremely toxic and harmful e-waste.