Electronic waste – Image by Pixabay
(BRUSSELS) – The European Commission adopted a set of policy recommendations Friday for Member States to improve and incentivise the return of used and waste mobile phones, tablets, laptops and their chargers.
The recommendations aim to support national authorities to ensure maximum collection rates and subsequent re-use, repair, refurbishment and recovery of these small electronic devices.
Currently, the collection rate of small electronic devices across the EU remains low, says the Commission. For example, the collection rate of mobile phones is reported to be under 5% and an estimated stock of 700 million unused and waste mobile phones are stored in households across the EU.
These devices are also rich in precious materials, in particular critical raw materials. One smartphone alone contains rare earths in the magnet, cobalt in the battery, indium in the screen, and tantalum, gallium and precious metals in the printed-circuit board.
Increasing the repair and re-use of small electronics as well as recycling of waste from such equipment will support the shift to a circular economy, says the Commission, and contribute to the security of supply for critical raw materials and energy.
The policy recommendations include:
- Financial incentives such as discounts, vouchers, deposit-return schemes, or monetary rewards. The incentives should target small consumer electronics that no longer work but remain lying around in households’ drawers. They should also target small working electronics that people no longer use but can still be resold, reused or repaired. When using these incentives, consumers need to be equipped to make informed decisions, for instance they should be able to calculate the value of a device.
- Increasing the use of postal services to return used and waste mobile phones, tablets and laptops, for example by providing pre-paid envelopes or labels to consumers to return their devices.
- Establishing partnerships between reuse organisations and operators of take-back schemes and setting reuse and preparation for reuse targets.
- Increasing awareness and improving the convenience and visibility of collection points where people can return small electronics. Information about the nearest take-back points can be added to user-friendly maps, search tools and applications. At the take-back points, people should also be made aware that all personal data stored in their devices is properly managed and deleted correctly.
“There are more than 700 million old phones lying around in our drawers that’s almost two for every person in the EU,” said Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius: “Citizens often find it difficult to decide what to do with them. We can make it clearer and easier how to get such products returned, repaired and recycled. Today’s recommendations focus on effective measures and incentives to increase the collection rate of small electronics across the EU, giving them a second life.”
