SCYCLE OPERATING UNIT WEEE Generated in Romania: challenges and future outlook Dr. Federico Magalini – Magalini [at] unu.edu With financial support of:

Challenges for the future 2 10 November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania kg/ab or Average 3 preceeding years % PoM (3 preceding years) Latest from % PoM (3 preceeding years) Or 85% WG kg/ab or Average 3 preceeding years % PoM (3 preceding years) From % PoM (3 preceeding years) Or 85% WG Original EU Romania

Types of electronics 3 > 650 product type 6 waste streams 10 November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania

Quantifications & material flow analysis Recently developed common methodology (& dataset) + electronic tool for European Commission and Member State: Estimate WEEE Generated in their territory Based on sales for each product category (POM) Based on corresponding lifespan profile 2 available datasets for POM: National Register data Apparent Consumption Methodology via National statistics Estimation of waste generated if fundamental for: Production & Consumption strategies Capacity planning (technical + organizational) and infrastructure development Policy development & priority setting 10 November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania 4

How Apparent Consumption Methodology works 5 POM = PROD + IMPORT - EXPORT 10 November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania

The key role of National Register: PoM annual declarations 6 10 November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania POM = Producer’s declarations 10,6 6,6 11,7 9 11,5 9,2 6,1 10,2 7,5 10,5 6,4 9,9 6,5 9,9 6,8

National Register vs Apparent Consumption 7 10 November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Did you know that… In some product categories differences has been observed… Tracking individual product codes or checkign for free- riders might be easeir combining the two sources!!

National Register vs Apparent Consumption Annual declarations from Producers Closer link to the “scope” of the WEEE Directive Shorter time series (longer in the future) Potential risk of free-riders (reporting POM = financing obligations) 8 Apparent Consumption Based on official statistics Longer time series (from 1996) For some codes “scope” might slightly differ from WEEE Directive (might include non- electric products) Might include used equipment as well (no distinction in trade) National Register 10 November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Improve reliability and consistency National Register Leverage on Apparent Consumption to double-check and spot area for further investigations

Second pillar: Lifespan profiles WG (UNU-KEY) =POM * Lifespan 10 November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania 9 Did you know that… …Different products, …Different consumer behaviour …Different impact on waste generated

How are lifespan profiles generated November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Frequency of observations has been considered per each product, clustered at UNU-KEY level Simulations has been done to find the optimal curve fitting observations

Stock of EEE in Romanian households November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Total household stock measured 72 kg/person (B2C) 4 products = 80% of total stock Did you know that… 220 kg/person (Italy, 2012) 245 kg/person (France, 2013)

Some of the most/less common second- hand products in Romania November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Used/Gift New

The market dynamics: role of second-hand products November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania 5,6 kg/person (8% of stock)

Stock Age: the trend in Romania November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania

Stock Age: the trend in Italy November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Did you know that… Market penetration started earlier, so “older” stock of EEE

The consumer behaviour: hibernation November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Did you know that… Total stock not working /not in use: 2,4 kg/person Romania (3% stock) 21,1 kg/person Italy (10% stock)

How is WEEE Generated determined November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Consumers purchase (new) or get (used) EEE Household stock increases over time After certain period of time and for different reasons products are discarded = Waste Generated Sales and Waste Generated are related to Stock variation over time WEEE Generated = the amount of discarded products (waste) due to national consumption from a national territory (POM) in a given reporting year prior any activity (collection, preparation for reuse, treatment or export).

Waste Generated in Romania: the influence of POM dataset November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania

Behind the scenes: differences in WG results November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Waste stream category 2015 WG - PoM from Apparent Consumption) 2015 WG - PoM normalized using National Register data ( value) Difference (kg/person) Difference (%)Average C&F %1.8 Screens %1.0 Lamps %0.1 LHHA %2.5 SHA %1.5 Small IT %0.5 Total %7.3 Difference is linked to PoM ( C&F + LHHA account for 70% of the deviation). Good PoM is PARAMOUNT

Can we find the truth? In 2015 household EEE stock from consumer survey = 72 kg/person Considering original PoM based on Apparent Consumption stock = 91 kg/person Considering original PoM normalized on National Register data stock = 60 kg/person November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania Only B2C Include dual use products WG estimated (and resulting stock) includes dual-use products Not mapped in the household survey 60 kg/person might be too low (PoM too low) Apparent Consumption PoM dataset appears more in line with measured stock

Discard patterns from consumers November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania 1,010,45 0,7 1,55 1,98 0,25 1,40 Did you know that… Considering 7,35 kg/person of WG, the breakdown is as follow...

Impact on WG & role of Compliance Schemes Bad habit (27%) + Uncertainty (19%) = 46% of WG! >70kt of waste (lost opportunity for Industry) Depletion of natural resources Investigation needed to find out how much of the 21% of life-extension should be accounted as re-use and preparation for reuse Only 20% of WG currently reaching the collection infrastructures where Compliance Schemes are active: 31kt potentially treated according to voluntary standards like WEEELabex® Still 10% (15kt) handled by scrap sector with potentially lower treatment standards November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania

Conclusions (I) Proper tracking of PoM is paramount Future data quality can be improved, particularly by focusing on key products. The apparent consumption methodology, can facilitate monitoring and control of specific EEE categories & checks on free riders by enabling the comparison National Register data Lifetime profiles have been created for Romanian households. Expanding the sample size and extending the survey to non-household EEE track changes in consumers’ WEEE disposal behaviours The amount of WEEE available for proper collection and treatment is only a small share (20 per cent or 70 kt) compared to the total amount Consumer awareness is a key element to tackle share of WEEE generated collected by informal collectors, disposed of in waste bins or for which users do not remember discarding, represent the biggest threat to meeting collection targets November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania

Conclusions (II) Environmental & societal concerns for: Sub-standard treatment WEEE collected by informal collectors Potential loss of natural resources Increase amount collected not de-coupled from a proper treatment in line with standards, including voluntary approaches like WEEELABEX November 2015Bucharest - Quantification of WEEE Generated in Romania

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