Reacción a "Only 54% of electronic waste is collected correctly in Europe"

The report 2050 Critical Raw Materials Outlook for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in the European Union plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom is the result of the Futuram project, successor to the now completed ProSUM project, which, together with the reports of the Global e-waste Monitor, constitute the most detailed and comprehensive studies on electronic waste (WEEE), both at European (Prosum and Futuram) and global (Global e-waste monitor) levels.

All of them divide electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) into the so-called UNU-Key categories. This categorisation is based on the similarity of the equipment in terms of: function, material composition, average weight and recycling characteristics. This results in 54 different categories according to key characteristics for the analysis of the circular economy. This categorisation is more extensive and appropriate than the six categories in the European regulations (temperature exchange equipment, displays, lighting equipment, large appliances, small appliances and telecommunications equipment) and the seven in the Spanish regulations, which has one more because it considers photovoltaic panels separately, which are included in the large appliances category. Thus, each UNU-Key is subdivided into component (EEE units, e.g. a computer hard drive), material (e.g. steel or copper alloys) and element (e.g. iron, copper or tin). All of the above reasons (key characteristics for the circular economy, the scope and comprehensive identification of materials) make this methodology the most robust to date.

This report shows the current state of the circular economy for EEE in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. The methodology makes it possible to identify critical raw materials (CRMs) that are currently lost or recovered, and establishes strategies to improve their recovery in the future. CRMs are identified according to two parameters: their economic importance to states and the risk of supply of these raw materials to states. As a result, CRMs are vital to the functioning of the economy and key sectors such as energy and defence. The results of the study show that 46% of CRMs are lost because WEEE is not collected properly. In addition, approximately 20% of the 54% that is collected through the appropriate channels is also lost during recycling. These figures show the enormous scope for improvement in the recovery of CRMs from WEEE. Furthermore, the study detects an upward trend in EEE placed on the market in the future, especially those containing more CRMs.

The study therefore recommends: improving collection rates, improving dismantling, identifying components containing CRM and improving policies to promote the economic conditions for CRM. These measures are key to CRM recovery, which would establish new industries with the consequent generation of employment, improve European independence from CRM imports and, potentially, avoid primary mining and its negative environmental consequences. These last two advantages would only occur if the demand for CRMs did not increase in the future. Therefore, another key additional recommendation would be to increase the useful life of products to try to contain the growing demand for CRMs.

Finally, I think it is important to point out two aspects regarding this report. On the one hand, the importance of the public availability of this data for research and for companies. In previous ProSUM reports, not all the information collected by the project was publicly available, particularly in terms of the level of detail needed to understand the composition of WEEE. This limits the possibilities for researchers and companies when it comes to launching projects for the recovery of RCMs. On the other hand, this study only considers CRMs present in EEE. This amount is quite limited, since vehicles, batteries, renewable energy installations and even tailings (waste) from operating or abandoned mines can be much more significant sources of CRMs. However, the variety of CRMs offered by WEEE compared to other secondary sources should not be overlooked.