Countering illegal trade in electrical and electronic waste
Whether illegally transported, collected, traded or dumped, e-waste poses serious health risks because many products contain substances such as mercury and cadmium that harm health and pollute the environment. Lack of proper enforcement efforts among Member States exacerbates the associated crime, health and environmental issues. To address these concerns, the EU-funded CWIT (Countering WEEE illegal trade) project is working on recommendations to assist government, law enforcement and industry in tackling the illegal trade of e-waste. It will also set up an information exchange platform for these stakeholders to better counteract and take action against WEEE illegal trade. During the first year of the project partners identified WEEE actors, calculated the real volume generated in Europe and the quantities improperly disposed of, and mapped international research on WEEE. Based on these results, they provided an overview of the current legal framework and associated gaps at international, EU and national levels. All data is being fed into a database set up for this purpose. The team is set to conduct interviews and gather feedback from policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and the electronics and e-waste industries to deliver recommendations in the form of reports. CWIT intends to deter illegal e-waste activity, particularly transport and disposal, and improve on its inadequate compliance levels and partial enforcement. This will ultimately lead to the protection of human health and the environment against the adverse consequences of hazardous e-waste.
Keywords
Illegal trade, electronic waste, e-waste, WEEE, health risks
