Making its debut in Ravenna the intelligent containers for electronic waste

From 26 to 28 of September, at the festival “Coping with the environment,” Hera, Ecolight and Ecolum, reveal the prototypes of smart containers for electical waste collection. Starting in 2013 the European project on WEEE traceability in Bologna, Ravenna, Castenaso e Lugo.

Identis Weee: arriving in Ravenna the first models of containers for WEEE

From 26 to 28 of September, in Piazza del Popolo of Ravenna, Hera shows two “smart” prototype containers for WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), within the Festival “Coping with the environment” organized by Labelab.These models will revolutionize the collection of waste electrical and electronic equipment and will be installed in 2013 in Bologna, Ravenna, Castenaso and Lugo, within the EU project Identis Weee (Identification Determination Traceability Integrated System for WEEE).Together with partners such as the Consortium Ecolight (Italy) and the Fundación Ecolum (Spain), Hera was chosen to act as leader of this experimental project, which has the objective of increasing the collection of small appliances, as well as of the most well known (such as TV or monitor), and simultaneously allow full traceability.

A revolution that starts from Emilia-Romagna

The smart bins will be of two types. The first is a “WEEE mobile”, a truck traveling equipped to receive any type of WEEE will move through the allocated territories.The other is the first road container dedicated to small litter electric waste and will be placed at strategic points of the city. It opens through a magnetic card, provided to the citizens. In this way, the entire path of the waste will be traced, ensuring thus the transparency of the management process to the final recovery of raw materials. The same models shown in Ravenna will then be used also in Zaragoza, another pilot city of project in Spain. The closure of the project is expected in 2015, when we will have the full picture of the results achieved. The investment is estimated at € 3.5 million, co-financed by the European Union and co-fouded, among others, by Anci, Federambiente, Emilia-Romagna and by the municipalities involved.

Why is it important to recover electronic waste?

To increase the collection of WEEE means to increase recovery of valuable raw materials such as iron, aluminum, glass or even valuable materials, such as tungsten or palladium, which can be reused in the production cycles. WEEE is also largely classified as hazardous waste, so retrieval means to help the environment, especially because, due to technological innovations, the widespread use and consumption of electronic materials is now on the agenda . Finally, projects such as Identis Weee, allow for the traceability of the entire life cycle of these devices to prevent their dispersal in the environment and to protect the health of people.

WEEE: In 2011, Hera has collected 14 thousand 800 tons.In Bologna 1370 tons of tv and pc

In 2011 were about 14 800 tons of WEEE, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, collected by Hera throughout the territory in which it operates, through its 135 ecological sites and services withdrawal of bulky waste.Only in Bologna, they are known from almost 4 300, 24% more than in 2010 (3. 487 tonnes).A growing trend for the Group (+2%), confirming the results already achieved in 2010 of almost 6 kg / inhabitant per year of WEEE collected separately, 40% more than the national average, helping to make of ‘Emilia-Romagna region in Italy, the second for the recovery of such wastes.