WHAT IS ECOSWEEE?
ECOSWEEE is a project financed by the European Union within the LIFE program. It addresses the challenges of environmental pollution and health issues related to e-waste
OBJECTIVE
ECOSWEEE aims to test several methods and incentives to increase the collection rate of small WEEE and portable batteries, addressing the challenges of the European Green Deal.
WHY ECOSWEEE?
The growing mountain of e-waste is a matter of increasing concern. WEEE and batteries containing hazardous substances give rise to serious environmental pollution and health problems if not managed sustainably. In addition, every product that is not collected for reuse or decontaminated and recycled represents a wasted opportunity in terms of the loss of natural resources and energy, a decrease in the supply of (critical and/or valuable) materials to feed into production, which in turn endangers the resilience of the sector, the autonomy of the EU economy and jobs. WEEE and battery legislation have set ambitious collection and recovery targets. However, after twenty years of WEEE rules, Member States are not reaching the minimum EU collection rate of 65%. The EU is committed to improving the low collection rate of WEEE under the European Green Deal.
THE GOAL OF THE ECOSWEEE PROJECT?
In order to practically test several methods and incentives to increase the collection rate of small WEEE and portable batteries, the ECOSWEEE project proposes to design and implement 10 new pilot projects in 8 Member States to test the practicability, feasibility, utility and viability of different collections. strategies and incentives. Strategies to be tested include deposit return, redemption and other reward schemes, eg donations, postal services, other collection routes, online retail involvement, financial aspects and improving the collection network. Another 12 ongoing or planned initiatives by Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) will also provide direct input to the project. The results of the pilot implementation will be analyzed based on pre-established criteria and indicators to measure the impact and effectiveness (success) of the actions implemented, to define potential areas for improvement and to provide recommendations to decision-makers at Member State and EU level.
ECOTIC is one of the partners in the European project ECOSWEEE and within it developed a study to find out the level of awareness and action of Romanians regarding the correct disposal of small electronic waste, especially mobile phones, tablets and laptops, as well as used batteries.
The study highlights the fact that although in Romania the obligation to display the green stamp contribution has been in force for many years, only 41% know that the cost of collection and recycling of electrical and electronic products is included in the price of the product. At the same time, 52% of Romanians consider it important for them and their family to hand over used small appliances and portable batteries for recycling.
The habit of keeping small electronics that you no longer use at home is confirmed by 41% of respondents, and 29% confirm this behavior for used batteries as well. Only 16% know clearly and concretely the options for disposing of used batteries and 10% in the case of electrical equipment waste. 60% of the population and 46% in the case of large stores do not know the option of handing in small electronics at small profile stores. At the same time, 64% say that it would be easy for them to access these teaching solutions.
11% of respondents admitted that they do not properly dispose of used portable batteries, and the highest share is among those under 30 years old, the main reason cited by 41% of them is the lack of easily accessible collection points/containers, followed by by the lack of information in this regard for 27% of them.
Find more relevant details from the study here.
The Study infographic is available here.
Study Report here.
More details here.
