E-WASTE MANAGEMENT- TRENDS AND BEST PRACTICE SOLUTIONS IN EUROPE AND ROMANIA

Abstract

Within the scientific community addressing the issue of the circular economy, there is a growing interest in the future of planetary resources, including finding the most consistent answers to the challenges posed by e-waste management (waste from electronics and household appliances). Although e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the European Union, only a little less than 40% of it is recycled. As concerns Romania, at this moment, the situation has become particularly problematic: Eurostat statistics show that in 2018 (latest available data) only 11% of waste was recycled in Romania, which places it on the 26th place among the 27 EU member states. Also, it must be mentioned that many of the European Union member states are behind the targets set at national and European level. This research will outline the evolution of e-waste management with a special focus on e-waste collection in European countries in order to establish what the future trends are. It will highlight the main issues of e-waste management in EU and will draw a parallel to highlight the national characteristics and trends of e-waste management in Romania with the ultimate scope of finding mechanisms useful for adjusting the national trends to the European targets.

Keywords

• e-waste management
• circular economy
• reduce-reuse-recycle