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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:49 am
Time: 1:49 am
Results for waste from electrical and electronic equipment (we
1 results foundAuthor: Puckett, Jim Title: Holes in the Circular Economy: WEEE Leakage from Europe Summary: In order to determine the rate and flows of "leakage" from the European Union of consumer-generated WEEE (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment) or "e-waste", as it is referred to in other parts of the world, BAN deployed used electronic equipment fitted with hidden GPS trackers at consumer recycling destinations in 10 representative countries of the European Union. BAN completed the deployments in the period between April 15 and September 2 of 2017. The countries chosen were Austria (18), Belgium (29), Denmark (20), Germany (54), Hungary (17), Ireland (24), Italy (48), Poland (20), Spain (45), and the United Kingdom (39). The quantities deployed were roughly proportional to the populations of the countries. In order to make best use of the GPS tracker and battery technology, the study utilized larger IT equipment of four types: Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors, Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors, desktop personal computers, and printers. All of the equipment qualified as hazardous under the Basel Convention definitions due to the presence of either a cathode ray tube (CRT), mercury-bearing lamps (all of the LCDs were of this type), or circuit boards (containing high levels of lead, tin, and brominated flame retardants). All of the units also qualified as waste under EU rules as they were rendered nonfunctional and economically unrepairable. The results of the study revealed that of the 314 tracked electronic units, 19 (6%) were exported from the countries from which they were deployed. Of the 10 countries surveyed in our study, only Hungary did not reveal any exports. The UK exported the most with 5 exports all to developing countries. And Nigeria received the most imports with 5. Of the 19 exported units, more than half (11 of 19, or 58%) went to developing countries. As the European Union has implemented the Basel Convention's Ban Amendment (Decision III/1) in its legislation known as the Waste Shipment Regulation's (WSR) Article 36, these 11 exports were likely to be illegal. Further, the EU requires shipments of wastes of all kinds within Europe to be notified, carry a financial instrument, and involve a proper contract to be in place prior to export. As we did not have the time to investigate each of these types of exports between EU member states, we have declared the legality of these shipments as "unknown," although experts tell us it is unlikely these were legally accomplished. The 19 exported units traveled a total distance of 78,408 kilometers with an individual average distance traveled being 4,127 kilometers each. This is about the same distance as the journey from Milan, Italy to Lagos, Nigeria. Based on this knowledge, it seems apparent that shipping costs are not a strong deterrent to long-distance exportation. While 19 exported hazardous waste electronic devices out of 314 may not seem like a serious concern, it is what these might well represent that is. Perspective can be gained by extrapolation of the national export rates, using the weights those countries produce each year. In doing this math, we learn that the 19 exported units could represent as much as 421,603 tonnes of WEEE exported each year filling around 19,165 forty-foot intermodal containers, and of that 20,887 tonnes, filling 16,821 containers would be flowing to developing countries, just from the 10 countries studied. To get a picture of how much WEEE that would represent flowing to developing countries each year, we can imagine that if 16,821 containers were each loaded onto an 18-wheel truck, those trucks lined up back-to-back, would stretch for 387 kilometers. If we look at how those trucks might stack up if we observe the entire 28 countries of the EU exported to developing countries we extrapolate to 352,474 metric tonnes, filling 17,466 40-foot intermodal containers which would stretch back -to-back on 18-wheel trucks for 401 kilometers. BAN concludes from this study that while the EU is far ahead of the United States, for the 28 countries of the EU which have ratified the Basel Convention and the Basel Ban Amendment and thus have legal barriers to international waste dumping in place, 339,446 tonnes of hazardous electronic waste per annum flowing to developing countries is unacceptable. Far more can be done to prosecute the robust illegal trade, including working with target countries such as Nigeria to stem the toxic tide. Further BAN calls upon the EU not to corrupt the worthy goals of the Circular Economy to use that term of art as a new password for increasing externalization of costs and harm to developing countries through liberalizing trade in broken, non-functional electronic waste with a new "Repairables Loophole" in the laws of Europe or at the Basel Convention. Details: Seattle, Washington: Basel Action Network, 2018. 120p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 20, 2019 at: http://wiki.ban.org/images/f/f4/Holes_in_the_Circular_Economy-_WEEE_Leakage_from_Europe.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Europe URL: https://www.ban.org/trash-transparency Shelf Number: 155485 Keywords: E-Waste Electronic Waste Environmental Crime Europe Hazardous Waste Illegal Dumping Illegal Waste Offences Against the Environment Pollution Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WE |