ECOSWEEE Project Officially Concludes: Advancing WEEE and Battery Collection for a Circular Economy

After 22 months of collaboration, research, and innovation, the ECOSWEEE project has officially come to a close. As an EU LIFE-funded initiative, ECOSWEEE has worked to develop and test incentives to improve small WEEE and battery collection, contributing to the broader objectives of the European Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan.

Throughout the project, ECOSWEEE:
✅ Conducted 20 pilot projects to test innovative collection strategies
✅ Engaged with key policymakers and stakeholders to inform future EU policies
✅ Delivered comprehensive findings and recommendations to enhance collection systems
✅ Hosted a Final Conference, Workshop, and Policy Briefing Session to ensure knowledge transfer and impact

We extend our sincere gratitude to our partners, industry stakeholders, policymakers, and the wider community for their contributions, engagement, and support in making this project a success.

While the project has come to an end, the work to enhance WEEE and battery collection must continue. The insights and solutions developed through ECOSWEEE serve as a foundation for future initiatives, policy developments, and industry best practices.

Access the Final Conference slides here​
Image of everyone involved in this project and a big text saying: Thank you.

Invitation to comment on the final conclusions and recommendations of the ECOSWEEE Project. Deadline 8th January 2025.

Provide your views and feedback on the final findings of the project!

You are kindly invited to comment on the final conclusions and recommendations of the ECOSWEEE Project.

Through the implementation of 20 pilots in various European countries, the project has been testing several methods and incentives to increase the collection rate of small WEEE and portable batteries in order to identify scalable models that can effectively increase collection rates, navigating the challenges presented by current practices and aiming to fill the existing gaps identified over two decades of WEEE and battery legislations. The outcomes of the project are expected to inform policymakers and contribute to the evaluation and development of relevant waste legislation.

We are now in the final stage of the project and have developed the final conclusions and recommendations derived from the implementation of the pilots. Before submitting them to the European Commission, we would like to offer a broad range of stakeholders the opportunity to share their views and provide feedback. You will find below all relevant information and tool needed to participate in the commenting process.

We hope you find the final conclusions and recommendations insightful and look forward to receiving your valuable feedback.

Thank you and best regards,

The ECOSWEEE consortium

Who should contribute?

Any stakeholder working in the field of (small) WEEE and waste portable battery collection, including but not limited to private sector organizations (manufacturers, retailers, PROs, waste management companies), government bodies (local, regional, and national authorities) and public entities, academia, researcher and independent experts, consumer associations and NGOs, EU and international bodies.

How to proceed? The file open to commenting is the following:

D5.1 Conclusions & recommendations report EXTRACT FOR COMMENT_19.12.2024Download

Each line is numbered allowing you to indicate the part of text you would like to comment on.

Use this Word file Table to provide your comments:

ECOSWEEE Table for commentingDownload

First detail your name and organization, then indicate the starting and ending lines of the text you would like to comment on, and add your comment and any other related information you deem relevant (e.g. references).

Please, use different table rows for different sections of the text. You can add as many lines as needed.

Kindly send your compiled table to: elise.vermeersch@unitar.org

Deadline for commenting is 8th January 2025.

Further information The file open to commenting is an extract of the Deliverable 5.1 “Conclusions and recommendations report”. To assist with the commenting process, the full Deliverable 5.1 document is also provided and can be accessed here:

D5.1 Conclusions & recommendations report_Final draft_FULL_19.12.2024Download

In particular, Deliverable 5.1 contains valuable information on: the project objectives and activities undertaken; the types and definition of incentives tested; the methodology used to derive conclusions and recommendations; and a detailed summary of the pilots implemented.

Invitation to the online workshop “Boosting small WEEE and battery collection: insights and strategies from the ECOSWEEE Project” 10/12/2024 10:00-12:30

Interested to hear about strategies to improve the collection of small WEEE and waste portable batteries in Europe?

On 10 December 2024 morning, the ECOSWEEE project organises an online workshop entitled “Boosting small WEEE and battery collection: insights and strategies from the ECOSWEEE Project” to present and discuss with participants the projects findings preliminary conclusions and policy recommendations. Over the course of the project, 20 pilots have been conducted to testing collection systems making use of different types of incentives (including: deposit return systems, buyback, other rewards, bring points, postal services, pick up services, visible fee, contest and donations).

The workshop is open to all interested participants from relevant stakeholder groups (e.g. academia and experts, government and European institutions, private sector, consumer associations and NGOs).

Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUlce2rrzgoGNCcc4N1gR-AmchNjQ_Un-2X#/registration

Looking forward to seeing you and hearing your thoughts in the workshop!

Join Us at EGG+2024 for Insightful Discussions on WEEE Collection

3D image showing a green place with different small rooms that everyone can interact. EGG 2024 - Insighful Discussions on Wee Collection

This June, our team is excited to present at the prestigious Electronics Goes Green Conference (EGG+2024), an event dedicated to advancing sustainable practices within the electronics industry. Our session, part of the hybrid Session D.6: WEEE Collection Rates, will take place on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM in Grenander 3.

Entitled “Challenges and Best Practices in the Collection of Small WEEE and Waste Portable Batteries in Europe,” the presentation by Filippo Stringa from (ERION) and Elise Vermeersch (UNITAR) will delve into the significant results from our consultations across Europe. We will explore the types of incentives designed by EPR schemes to enhance collection rates, uncover best practices, address prevalent challenges, and analyse the factors influencing consumers’ disposal choices and their perspectives on current collection initiatives.

As seating is limited, we encourage all interested attendees to register early to secure their participation in these critical discussions. For more details on the conference and our session, visit EGG+2024 Sessions.

The ECOSWEEE Project organized its second Advisory Board (AB) meeting on Wednesday 8th November

A screenshot showing a picture of a online chat with 11 people envolved with the Ecoswee project.

The ECOSWEEE Project organized its second Advisory Board (AB) meeting on Wednesday 8th November. Participants received an update on the project activities, including a presentation of the mapping of best practices for collection of small WEEE and waste portable batteries, a summary of the results from the stakeholder workshop, an overview of the preliminary recommendations for the design and implementation of incentive-driven take back scheme, and an outline of the ECOSWEEE Pilots. Elizabeth O’Reilly from WEEE Ireland, one of the project pilot implementers, presented its Blue Battery Box & Charity Incentive programme and Carsten Waldeck, a member of the AB, presented the deposit return system (DRS) implemented by his company SHIFT GmbH.

General discussions covered among others the benefits and challenges associated with DRS, consumers’ behavior and awareness, and the opportunity and added value to combine different incentives, such as contest and raffles with charity donation or non-monetary reward.

The next AB meeting will take place in about one year, to discuss the outcomes of the pilots’ impact assessment and the project’s key conclusion and recommendations.

Core consortium kick-off meeting

Core consortium kick-off meeting

The official kick-off meeting of the ECOSWEEE project was a 2-day event held in Brussels (Belgium) on May 11th and 12th. Representatives from core organisations involved in the consortium (WEEE Forum, UNITAR, SPI, ERION and Ramboll), as well as from the European Commission (Maria Banti, EC officer) participated in the meeting.

The objective of the meeting was to lay the foundations for the ECOSWEEE project, in order to get the project off the ground and officially get started on the proceedings for the implementation of the activities planned.

This core meeting will be continued by an online consortium meeting on May 25th with representatives from all organisations.