On the occasion of International E-Waste Day, which is observed today, Zero – Sustainable Earth System Association holds the Ministry of Environment and the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) accountable for the current situation.
The association indicates that, according to data from ERP Portugal — Waste Management Entity and Electrão, responsible for managing these wastes, last year “165,000 tons” of e-waste were “dumped into the environment or received by illegal scrap dealers who did not decontaminate them.” Portugal collected “only 26% of e-waste, when the European target was 65%.”
“Every day, large quantities of substances contained in these wastes are being released, which are toxic to public health and the environment, such as PCBs (carcinogens), refrigerator refrigerant gases (which destroy the ozone layer and cause climate change), plastics with flame retardants (carcinogens), and other toxic substances, namely mercury, lead glass, heavy metals, batteries, or lubricating oils.”
Zero highlights that, over several years, the Ministry of Environment and APA officials “did nothing” for the proper management of these wastes, despite being aware of the reality, allowing “the e-waste management entities, licensed by them, to operate with very low budgets that prevent the development of a good collection network.”
It also criticizes the pretense of ignorance about the “vast network of illegal scrap dealers, where most of the e-waste ends up being sent.”
To “exponentially increase” the collection of e-waste, the environmental association proposes the creation of “a deposit/refund system in which, as envisaged for beverage packaging, the consumer pays a deposit when purchasing new equipment, which will be refunded upon delivery of an equivalent old device.”
“This proposal was sent to the new Secretary of State for the Environment, with Zero expecting that, contrary to the past, this time it will be well-received by the Ministry,” it adds.
In mid-April, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, stated that the General Inspection of Agriculture, Sea, Environment, and Spatial Planning (IGAMAOT) had completed an audit of the control of e-waste treatment, which would allow seeing if everything was “functioning optimally” or if it would be necessary to “fine-tune the system.”
