Where do the Electric and Electronic Wastes (WEEE) end up once they leave the homes of the Italian citizens? How many of these are intercepted by the WEEE Collective Systems and treated in accordance with the law? How many, still, are subjected to incorrect processes or are abandoned in the environment?
Ecodom, the largest Italian Consortium engaged with the management of WEEE and Altroconsumo, the main Italian consumer organization, have come together for an investigation that promises to be the most thorough journalistic research ever conducted on the flow of e-waste in Italy. For the first time in Italy, over 200 WEEE – including washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, dryers and freezers – have been equipped with a satellite tracking system (GPS) in order to monitor their journey from the moment they leave the houses of consumers.
From here, according to the law, e-waste should end up in the municipal ecological platforms and then be transferred to the correct treatment systems. It happens, however, that good theory collides with bad practice and that WEEE are dispersed in illegal collection centers, ferrous scrap trade points, second-hand markets or even sent to illegal maxi-landfills that are suffocating populations from different developing countries.
The investigation, presented on October 14, 2019 in Rome on the occasion of the International E-waste day, provided the data to be used for a concrete discussion on the possible solutions to be adopted to face this high level of dispersion of electronic waste, which in Italy reaches almost 70% of the quantities generated each year.
In this regard, the InnoWEEE project wants to contribute tangibly to the efficiency of the WEEE collection and management system, both at national and European levels. In this project, however, the target products are the small household appliances of citizens, offices, schools, etc. which will be tracked through innovative geo-IT services to monitor the different phases of the product life cycle: collection, recovery, recycling and reuse.
The Project Coordinator Dedagroup, in charge of managing this data flow, found important causes for reflection in the investigation conducted by Ecodom and Altroconsumo, developing also the following video showing the trips of the 200 WEEE tracked during the survey:
