Zero reports 160,000 tons of electronic waste

The environmental association Zero indicated this Tuesday that 160 thousand tons of electrical and electronic waste polluted the environment in Portugal in 2024, proposing a deposit and refund system to increase the collection of this waste.

In a statement on the occasion of the International Day of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), which is celebrated this Tuesday, Zero — Associação Sistema Terrestre Sustentável holds the Ministry of the Environment and the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) responsible for the situation.

The association adds that, according to data from ERP Portugal — Waste Management Entity and Eletrão, responsible for managing this waste, last year, “ 165 thousand tons” of WEEE “were discharged into the environment or received from illegal scrap dealers who did not decontaminate them”, with Portugal collecting “only 26% of WEEE, when the community target to which it was obliged was 65%”.

“Every day, large quantities of substances contained in this waste are released, which are toxic to public health and the environment, such as PCBs (carcinogens), refrigerant gases from refrigerators (which destroy the ozone layer and cause climate change), plastics with flame retardants (carcinogens) and other toxic substances, namely mercury, leaded glass, heavy metals, batteries or lubricating oils.”

Zero highlights that, over several years, those responsible at the Ministry of the Environment and the APA “did nothing” to correctly manage this waste , despite being aware of the reality, allowing “the WEEE management entities, licensed by them, to operate with very low budgets that prevent the development of a good collection network”.

He also criticizes the feigned ignorance about the “vast network of illegal scrap dealers, where most WEEE ends up being sent.”

To "exponentially increase" the collection of WEEE, the environmental association proposes the creation of "a deposit/refund system in which, as is recommended for beverage packaging, the consumer pays a deposit when purchasing new equipment, which will be returned when an equivalent old equipment is returned."

"This proposal was sent to the new Secretary of State for the Environment, with Zero hoping that, unlike in the past, this time it will be well received by the Ministry," he adds.

In mid-April, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, said that the General Inspectorate of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning (IGAMAOT) had completed an audit of the control of WEEE treatment, which would allow to see if everything was “working optimally” or if it would be necessary to “fine-tune the system”.

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