Almost 24,000 tons of electronic waste managed, with a recovery rate of over 97% and a commitment to the “One for One” that translated into 300 tons of WEEE collected in 2018: these are the main data contained in the Social Report of Ecolight, one of the main collective systems for the management of WEEE, batteries and accumulators in Italy. “Consortium’s Social Report is a document that looks to the future, to the challenges we have before us and tries to indicate solutions – Walter Camarda, president of Ecolight, says -. The road to take is the involvement, as well as ‘involving’ is the title we wanted to give to our Social Report. The circular economy package, which was examined by the EU Parliament last year, should not be seen as a mere list of requirements, but a route to be taken. In order for the circular vision to find concreteness, it is indispensable that everyone does his/her own task”.
The consortium has served more than 3,000 pickup points throughout Italy and now, in order to implement the circular economy, the challenge is twofold, in particular in view of the European target for 2019. “By the end of this year, Italy is required to collect 65% of the equipment entered the market, a percentage calculated on the average of the three previous years – Giancarlo Dezio, general manager of Ecolight, explains -. An important goal, given that we start from 40% registered in 2017. But it is a target that can be reached through two roads: the first, an increase of the collection, sensitizing the citizens on the need to confer in a differentiated way not only refrigerators and ovens, but also and above all smartphones, blenders and light bulbs that are no longer working; the second, a stop to the parallel collection channels. It is estimated that at least two thirds of the WEEE produced is managed outside the system, without any control over the chain, recovery and recycling ”. As regards to the recycling, the consortium sent to the recovery more than 8,570 tons of iron, over 6,500 tons of plastics, almost 2,000 tons of glass and 1,000 tons of non-ferrous metals.
