News in English     | 18.02.2019. 12:06 |

BiH disposes more than 7.5 tons of e-waste in six years (VIDEO)

FENA Hana Imamović

SARAJEVO, February 18 (FENA) – Since ZEOS eco-system was established in 2013, authorized operator for electronic waste management in area of the Federation of BiH, more than 7.500.000 kilos of electric and electronic waste has been collected and disposed by the end of 2018.

 

By: Hana Imamović

There is 44.7 million tons of electronic waste per year on a global level, which is around 6.1 kilos per capita but Europe alone generates around 16.6 kilos per capita and BiH between 10 and 11 kilos per capita, which means that BiH places around 40.000 tons of new equipment in the market per year.

ZEOS eco-system established export of dangerous waste and for the first time there is export of TV and computer screens from BiH which contain lead and are included in dangerous waste. Waste is exported to Austria and Germany for recycling.

Assistant Director of ZEOS eco-system Elma Babić-Džihanić said in an interview with FENA they established infrastructure at 70 collecting places, where citizens can dispose electric and electronic waste for free.

Coverage of municipalities in the Federation of BiH of these places is 37 percent and additional nine sets of containers of so called "green furniture" for stores were procured in December 2018.

It is planned to place 29 new street containers in Sarajevo Canton, Konjic municipality and the City of Mostar, by mid-2019 and all locations will be on the map which will be available on the website of this system.

Most e-waste is collected in bigger cities due to higher number of residents but the aim is to enable more citizens to be able to dispose e-waste in their environment for free, said Babić-Džihanić.

She added their experience has shown there is a great interest of schools to promote environmental protection and E-transformer, multimedia vehicle funded from the EU Life plus project intended for children of elementary and secondary schools, visited thousand places in November last year.  

Babić-Džihanić warned that around 60 elements from the periodic table can be found in the e-waste and there are also usual dangerous materials in the e-waste such as heavy metals and chemicals.  

According to the latest analysis, plastic has also been found in a human body because plastic is being thrown to the sea and sun is melting it, then fish do not recognize it and people eat that fish and so are getting the plastic in their organism.

However, she gave another interesting fact, which is that there are valuable materials in the electric waste such as gold. It is assessed that 10 percent of gold consumption is used in the e-waste per year.

Statistical data is also very important for economic value of waste, considering analysis showed that 55 billion euros on a global level was rejected in 2016 due to irregular disposal of this waste, which is significantly higher than gross domestic product of some states.

Speaking about future goals of this system, Assistant Director of ZEOS eco-system Elma Babić-Džihanić emphasized the need to establish a sustainable system of e-waste disposal management.  

She noted they plan to enable separate collecting and disposing of e-waste with municipalities and utility companies, which would positively affect health of people and the environment, but also the possibility of opening new production plants, which would deal with processing of waste and its proper disposal.

"One of the short-term goals is definitely participation in the EU projects, which would cover part of costs of raising awareness of the citizens, placing the infrastructure and recycling centers. We plan to collect 35 percent of the amount of electric equipment placed on the market," she underlined.

ZEOS eco-system called distributers, importers and producers dealing with sale of electric products to get involved in the system, fulfill their legal obligation and be part of a successful eco family.

 

Watch http://www.fena.ba/video/2581

Download https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cRm-J2K7H8g2gA8WEPRNOPM39RvrL2S8?usp=sharing

(FENA) A. B.

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