The waste electric and electronic equipment collection campaigns conducted with the support of the two partnering City Halls resulted in the involvement of 1,900 participating citizens from Bucharest who brought over 34 tons of WEEE at the temporary collection points. The City Hall of district 4 and manufacturer Bosch were the first to say “yes” to a pilot project carried out over a 12-week period. Alongside RoRec and Hotpoint, the City Hall of district 6 developed a unique campaign that helped collect almost 24,000 kilograms of WEEE.
The waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) pilot project, carried out by the Romanian Recycling Association RoRec in collaboration with the City Hall of district 4, together with partner Bosch, involved over 1,100 inhabitants who brought over 16,000 kilograms of WEEE at the fixed and mobile collection centers. Partner Bosch offered prizes for three separate raffles.
“The City Hall of district 4 considered it a truly successful project. When we started the project, we did not expect to collect such a large quantity, particularly from a number of over 1,000 participating citizens. This is not our first WEEE collection project, but it is the first one where we exceeded the estimations on the collected quantity.”, stated Alexandru Popescu, Vice-mayor of district 4, at the end of the project.
“Bosch is constantly interested in participating to such collection events and plans to identify optimal solutions for developing energy-efficient products with a positive environmental impact.”, stated Olguta Stanuica, Brand Manager Bosch Siemens.
Another project for the people of Bucharest was conducted in October and enjoyed the support of artist Analia Selis, RoRec ambassador, who promoted the messages of the “Waste doesn’t belong at home. Take it for a hike!” campaign and managed to persuade over 1,000 citizens to dispose of almost 24 tons of waste.
During four weeks, starting with the October 1st weekend, collection teams assisted the citizens of district 6 in disposing of WEEE from their homes, during events organized in three areas: Militari, Drumul Taberei and Crangasi. Fixed collection points where citizens could bring the waste operated in the active collection zone every Saturday, while mobile teams would go out to take heavy or large appliances from people’s homes, based on orders they placed.
Partner Hotpoint offered prizes at the four raffles organized at the end of each WEEE collection weekend. “Innovation in technology must always be backed by innovation in mitigating the negative environmental impact. Such partnerships with nonprofit associations and local authorities are a priority for Hotpoint because we want to get actively involved in educating the public on recycling and on how to choose appliances with low energy consumption.”, stated Giuseppe Parma, CEO Hot Point.
“People put their trust in us and this will never allow us forget our role and what we have to do for district 6. The partnership with the RoRec Association allows us to provide easier access to a clean public space and a better life for the citizens of district 6 through a system that takes waste electric and electronic equipment to recycling plants where they are processed in accordance with the European standards”, stated the Mayor of district 6, Cristian Constantin Poteras.
“Nationwide, we continued the waste electric equipment collection program in 2011 as well, in partnership with the townhalls, covering 560 localities in 39 counties. In the end, 1,034.5 tons of WEEE collected this year are encouraging and make us happy, especially since more and more local authorities agree to join this campaign. Nevertheless, although the average collected quantity per participating citizen is impressive – over 19 kg –, the national average of collected waste remains the same as last year and varies between 1 and 1.5 kg/capita. Once again, we want to assure the townhalls and the citizens of our eagerness to provide a WEEE collection system in line with the European norms that can offer every Romanian a correct method for disposing of this type of waste which can become extremely harmful for the environment unless treated properly.”, added Liviu Popeneciu, President of the Romanian Recycling Association RoRec.