Despite this being prohibited, 4 in 10 Belgians at least sometimes throw small electrical or electronic items into rubbish bin with their household waste rather than taking them to a collection point or a recycling park. The figures come from Recupel, the non-profit organization that organises the collection of waste electronic and electrical items in Belgium. The lion’s share of the goods binned with household garbage are small items such as ink cartridges, earphones and bicycle lights.
Meanwhile, Larger items such as broken washing machines, refrigerators, microwaves and televisions are taken to the recycling park or a second-hand store or are taken away by the supplier of the new appliance.
Recupel carried out a survey of 1,000 Belgians. 43% of respondents said that they at least sometimes throw small electrical or electronic items in the rubbish bin.
Recupel's spokesman Stijn Ombelets told VRT News that "People often do not realise that these small items are also electrical or electronic waste that can be recycled and from which new products can be made".
Mr Ombelets went on to say that "Our research also shows that half of people still think that residual waste is sorted after collection. That is of course not the case, it simply ends up in the incinerator. So if you want your things to be recycled, take them to the recycling park, a second hand shop (if they are still in working order) or to a Recupel collection point”.
A little can’t hurt
1 in 5 of those surveyed believe that discarding the occasional small item of electrical or electronic waste in the domestic rubbish bin won’t do any harm. However, in Belgium a total of 15,000 tonnes of such waste is not recycled each year because it has been dumped with the household trash.
A United Nations report shows that worldwide 9.5 billion euro’s worth of in raw materials are lost each year due to electronic devices having been improperly discarded or because people simply leave them lying around their homes.