Recycling: EU "owns" a stock of 700 million unused and unusable phones

The Pro WEEE Coalition and the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Forests (MMAP) launched the information and awareness campaign "Hand over defective electrical and electronic equipment for recycling!". Ecotic, a founding member of the Pro WEEE Coalition, informs: "The campaign message focuses on directing the general public to the correct and concrete solutions for handing over electrical waste for recycling. All information related to electrical waste, as well as the map with the dedicated collection points, available at the national level, they are on the www.reciclezadeee.ro platform. The Recycling Map is a project developed by the environmental NGO Viitor Plus. Also, a spot dedicated to the campaign was approved by the National Broadcasting Council, which decided to address service providers. audiovisual media, at national, local and regional level, the request to support the broadcast of the video/audio spot, for a period of 6 months". According to the cited source, all objects or products that work by connecting to electricity or batteries fall into the category of electrical and electronic equipment, and when they can no longer be used or repaired they become waste electrical or electronic equipment (WEEE) and would must end up on the recycling stream, by handing it over to dedicated collection points or by picking it up from home by authorized collectors. Collection points are available in electro IT shops, hypermarkets and collection points/centres managed by local public authorities: "When not properly collected, WEEE does not end up in a treatment and recycling plant, but in landfills of garbage or in the stream of scrap metal. The black smoke from the outskirts of the localities that poisons our air and the environment is also caused by the burning of electrical equipment such as cables or other equipment. The loss of WEEE in the informal stream is the result of inappropriate behavior of the population, which brings a harm to the environment, to the health of the population (through improper treatment of equipment containing hazardous substances). In addition, valuable resources are lost that could be repaired, prepared for reuse or that could re-enter the production circuit following a proper recycling." . At the end of 2022, the European Commission reported that almost half of the WEEE disposed of in Europe is not properly collected and recycled. Thus, it is reported that the collection rate of mobile phones is below 5%, and in EU households there is an estimated stock of 700 million unused and unusable mobile phones. Also, a large part of this waste goes unnoticed, because consumers, if they do not simply keep the items for possible reuse, often throw away items such as kettles, toasters, electric toothbrushes, electronic cigarettes, cables, USB -s, toys that functioned on the basis of batteries. The Pro WEEE Coalition Association was founded in 2021, with the vision of implementing in Romania the policies and standards of the European Union in the matter of Circular Economy, focused on the management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).