MOUNTING E-WASTE OF EUROPE: POLICIES, MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, AND BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

EU is among the communities recognized for their high environmental profile. This could be surprising for an informal recycler from Nigeria and Ghana who regularly receives out of use computers from EU member states and lights up open fires to recover materials. Departing from this paradox the paper attempted to build up a framework for the analysis of e-waste management options. E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in Europe, although waste generation in general is an important environmental concern. There are huge differences among member states, although the hierarchies could vary a lot. The European waste policy framework is quite well developed with a strong branch for WEEE. Nevertheless, most of WEEE is dumped in third world countries. The initiative of several companies to build up a European Recycling Platform is an important step to improve effectiveness in e-waste management. The widespread use of the shipment business solution is however evidence that it is still not cost effective. The analysis of the typology and spatial patterns of waste generation, the current waste policy framework, the main waste management practices employed in case of WEEE, and the business solutions resulted in a number of observations. Among these, we stress the urgent need for improved data collection procedures, reporting guidelines and development of simple and effective control tools.