The recent presentation of the Global E-Waste Monitor Report 2022 of the United Nations reminds us of the importance of increasing the reuse and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment as part of the solution in improving our planet.
The figures presented by the United Nations in this report indicate that during 2019 alone, 17% of the 53.6 million tonnes of WEEE generated worldwide were collected, documented and managed properly and in an environmentally friendly manner. This means that the remaining 83%, equivalent to 44.3 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste, were not documented and ended up, outside any type of control system, in unauthorised recycling circuits or directly sent to landfills. Apart from the significant pollution of the planet this entails, it also means a loss in economic value of recoverable metals of 44.2 thousand million euros.
At European level, taking into account that this is the region with the highest volume of WEEE per capita in the world, the figures are significantly better, with 42% of the 12 million tonnes of WEEE generated in Europe being recycled in a documented way and through legal channels.
It is clear that we still have a great collective challenge to face and the fronts are as broad as they are diverse: improving the control of cross-border movements of goods, improving legislation and coordination between countries, increasing control over the final use and, in serious cases of non-compliance, applying the appropriate sanctions.
The Global E-Waste Monitor Report 2022 estimates that by 2050, WEEE will increase, worldwide, to up to 110 million tonnes, which leaves us with a concerning future scenario requiring urgent measures to be taken in order not to put our ecosystem at risk.
The greater consumption of electrical and electronic equipment and the significant growth in international distribution mean that the possible solutions will not be easy to apply. National and international policies must lead to legislation that improves the treatment of electrical and electronic waste and ensures, through sensitisation campaigns, that this challenge is picked up by all of us at individual and company level.
Although we do not want to be alarmist, it is important for us to move from words to deeds and, as consumers, distributors and manufacturers, to put into practice our right and our duty to demand controlled treatment for our products once they have arrived at end of life, in order to reduce pollution of the planet and enable their components to be reused to create and manufacture new products.
Faced with this present and future scenario, ECOTIC, as a benchmark organisation in the sector, reaffirms its commitment to actively participate in the improvement proposals that may be debated at both national and European level. We also remain committed to continuous improvement, implementing changes as necessary, with the involvement of the entire organisation, from the Board of Trustees to all our operational areas. The result of this work is the creation of the new non-profit company ECOTIC Entidad Administradora, and the Fundación ECOTIC CLIMA, two important decisions we have taken with the aim of expanding the types of waste we collect and increasing the total number of tonnes we manage.
In spite of this, and as we have said on more than one occasion, a review of the collection targets we have been given is necessary because they do not correspond to the real situation of the electrical and electronic equipment being placed on the market. Being so unrealistic makes these targets very difficult to achieve, especially for reasons beyond our control: on the one hand, due to far longer than average lifetimes of large appliances such as air conditioning units and solar panels, which the targets do not take into account, and on the other hand, to the quantity of small devices that are not recycled and remain in homes and in companies or that are recycled via unapproved circuits.
This grievance was raised at European level three years ago by the study conducted by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and published by the WEEE Forum. In its conclusions it is requested that Extended Producer Responsibility Systems (EPRS) should only be responsible for the collection of WEEE that is legally enforceable by them and not for WEEE that is beyond their scope, and that they should be required to collect 100% of the WEEE within their scope as a collection target.
According to the results of this investigation, the method used to calculate the current quantities collected is not compatible with the purpose for which it was designed and, therefore, incorrect targets are obtained that do not fulfil their mission, it therefore being a priority to change it. Three years on, there has still been no progress in this direction.
