So far, nearly 60 organisations in 35 countries have registered to be part of the 2nd International E-Waste Day on October 14th.
The organisations are spread across six continents and will be involved in activities from social media campaigns and school visits to workshops, collection of electronic waste and advising start up recyclers. All initiatives will take place on or around International E-Waste Day.
International E-Waste Day has been developed by the WEEE Forum, an international association of e-waste collection organisations. The Day seeks to encourage users to consider repairing their appliances or correctly disposing of them with the resulting increase in re-use, recovery and recycling rates. Last year more than 50 organisations from over 40 countries worldwide were involved and organised many different types of promotional activities, ranging from conferences and workshops, school and street collection campaigns to social media competitions and campaigns, and online guides and games.
According to the UN, only an estimated 20% of global e-waste is recycled each year, which means that around 40 million tonnes of e-waste are either placed in landfill, burned or illegally traded and treated in a sub-standard way and this is despite 66% of the world’s population being covered by e-waste legislation. This results in the huge loss of valuable and critical raw materials from the supply chain and causes serious health, environmental and societal issues through illegal shipments of waste to developing countries.
Pascal Leroy, Director General of the WEEE Forum, said, “The volume of e-waste is continually increasing and contains many valuable as well as hazardous materials that should be recovered or properly treated when items are discarded. While consumer awareness of how to dispose of e-waste correctly is improving, it is still a struggle to ensure that e-waste is collected and treated by organisations with the correct facilities and channels, thereby guaranteeing that this is done so in a legitimate, safe and environmentally friendly way.”
From 2019, the minimum collection rate to be achieved annually in EU member states will be 65% of the average weight of appliances placed on the market in the three preceding years, or alternatively 85% of WEEE generated. The new collection targets will ensure that around 10 million tons, or roughly 20 kg per capita, will be separately collected. Such a high collection rate is impossible to reach without the involvement of all actors in the value chain.
The WEEE Forum is inviting every organisation involved or interested in electronic waste matters to participate in the 2019 edition of International E-Waste Day. More information on how to get involved can be found at: www.weee-forum.org/iewd-about/. The registration will be open until the end of September.
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