Electronic Waste Management in Kosovo an important Contribution for Stability

Workshop on Supplemental Ways for Improving International Stability (SWIIS 2010) Prishtina, Kosovo, October 27-29, 2010

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Electronic Waste Management in Kosovo an important Contribution for Stability I. Rexha* ; P. Kopacek** *GTZ Kosovo e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] ** Vienna University of Technology, Favoritenstrasse 9, A-1040 Wien, Austria and University for Business and Technology(UBT),Prishtina, Kosovo. e-mail:[email protected]).

Abstract: The Production of electrical and electronic equipment is one of the fastest growing areas of manufacturing industry in the Western World. Technological innovation and market expansion accelerate the replacement process and new applications of electrical and electronic equipment. New designs of electrical and electronic equipment are increasing significantly. There is hardly any part of life where electrical and electronic equipment are not used. In this contribution the importance of recycling, according to the WEEE directive of electr(on)ic waste for developing countries for improve the stability will be discussed on the example Kosovo. Keywords: International Stability, Developing countries, Electr(on)ic waste, Recycling, Automated disassembly.

conflict countries in the region, environment was not considered in the beginning to be one of the priorities. Kosovo didn’t have a long tradition in treating of the environmental problems; there were no respective institutions available (Ministry) for environment or the necessary legislation for environment. All those facts reflect the interest of the previous administrations in Kosovo towards the environment.

1. INTRODUCTION Environment today is a global problem and it is a mutual problem of rich and poor countries, problem for developed countries and countries in development. In international aspect, today, the main long-term objectives for environmental protection are the following: • Improvement of quality of life of people – it is clear that without economic development, we cannot have good environmental care, because environmental protection is expensive. • Rational and sustainable use of natural resources – by orientation towards the existing available resources and renewable resources. • To avoid harmful effect on environment – by orientation towards economic activities that has less impact on environment. In this aspect, those objectives for Kosovo will represent big challenges towards sustainable economic development.

First environmental law in Kosovo has been promulgated in 2003 and it obligates the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning to prepare e proposal for Environmental and Sustainable Development Strategy for Kosovo. Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning is in charge of the project. Drafting of the Strategy was done in inter-ministerial and inter-institutional cooperation. After six months of work, a draft was finished and it was discusses at the level of local and international experts. After discussions, it was clear that it is necessary to engage the international expertise in order to have a more acceptable document. Under the instruction of the international expert, in order to have more acceptable document of Strategy, Kosovo Government has established the Permanent Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development.

In March 2004, a draft for Environmental strategy and sustainable development for Kosovo is prepared by UNMIK and Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo. Government of Kosovo and Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning are obliged to create Legislation for Environment. Kosovo is passing through an important phase of development in a post conflict period, and similar to the post

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60 - Support the concept of import of clean technologies in Kosovo in starting phase of new industries and restarting of existing industry. - Application of the concept of energy efficiency in all sectors of energy users.

2. PROBLEMS OF KOSOVO Basic specifics that are characteristic for Kosovo society in the moment when the fulfillment of the strategy is expected are the following: - Relatively high birth rate of the population, with major part of young population; - Slow process of integration of Kosovo society after the war; - Deficit of good professional cadres in central and local institutions; - Reformation in all level of education; - High rate of unemployment (about 50%); - High level of poverty (about 50% in general poverty and 12% in extreme poverty); - Low level of economic development, stagnation in privatization process of socially owned enterprises and lack of the vision for economic development; - Drop of industrial production in former social sector and slow increase of private production enterprises; - Insufficient supply with electricity for economy and population; - Crises in agricultural sector; - Lack of Spatial plan of Kosovo and reduction of the agricultural land; - Poor transport infrastructure.

4. WASTE MANAGEMENT Waste management is Kosovo has been faced five majors challenges: Tab.1 Capacity of new landfills in Kosovo (Kosovo Trust Agency,2004) Place

Population

Volume (m3)

Donor

PRISHTINA

700.000

5.000.000

EAR

PODUJEVA

100.000

700.000

EAR

GJILAN

200.000

1.200.000

EAR

PRIZREN

500.000

2.500.000

EAR

DRAGASH

20.000

150.000

EAR

PEJA

300.000

1.500.000

EAR

FERIZAJ

200.000

-

none

MITROVICA

250.000

-

DANIDA

ZVEQAN

50.000

300.000

EAR

3. ENVIRONMENTAL PRIORITIES IN KOSOVO

-

Main environmental priorities for period of 2005-2015 will be: Completing of the legislation for environmental protection, in harmony with existing conditions in Kosovo, gradual fulfillment of EU standards and efficient implementation of existing one. - Establishment of competent capable institutions completed with human capacities and equipped with equipment for implementation of environmental policies. The following institutions in the first place: Decision making institutions, monitoring institutions, supervision and inspection institutions. - Gradual increase of access to clean potable water for population, sewage system, waste treatment system and support to programs for recycling of black waters and waste; - Rational use of natural resources: soil, water, minerals, forest etc. paying attention in the use of endangered kinds and orientation towards renewable resources. - Expand the area and protection of natural heritage areas and those with special natural value together with increase of capacitates for their efficient management in accordance with Rio Declaration. - Establishment and functioning of environmental monitoring network in whole Kosovo with priority to major industrial pollutants “hot spots” in Kosovo. - Provision of necessary financial and economic instruments, for environmental protection in harmony with economic development, and fast establishment of eco-funds. - Development of long term education programs, public awareness campaigns and support for environmentally focused scientific projects.

1. Disregard for existing legislation, 2. Lack and inadequate control of creation and transport of urban waste, 3. Disinterest for reduction of the capacity of urban waste and reduction of its dangerousness, 4. Inadequate and uncontrolled disposal of waste in the past and now, 5. The lack of recycling or processing of waste, Most landfills built before the 1999 conflict were built and managed well below accepted standards. About, 35% of the population lives in urban areas and are services by municipal waste companies. Donors, such as the EAR (European Agency for Reconstruction), have supported and financed programs for rehabilitation and closure of old new ones. The new landfills are constructed in accordance with European Union standards, (geological, hydrological, topographical studies were undertaken), and there still remain problems associated with the lack of maintenance and especially on treating the leach ate from the landfills. 4. ASSESSMENT WASTE STREAMS OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT Very important issue is to approximate annual electrical and electronic waste (WEEE) volumes in the country.

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61 The total amount of each goods in households can be calculated when the penetration percentage and the amount of households is known. The average annual WEEE amount can be calculated by dividing the total amount of equipment by the average use period of equipment. We also know that a white goods covers 2/3 of the total volumes of WEEE. • Interviews The objective of the interviews was to collect the data about awareness of European and local legislation. Attitude towards environmental protection and sustainable development Role in distribution and sales chain of EEE Target group: The most important importers and users of EEE • Second hand imports Customs statistics can provide some data on imports of used electrical and electronic equipment. The imports of used equipment has decreased in last years, except in computers Also in large household appliances the second hand imports have been significant, but have declined in last years. • Sources and volumes of WEEE According to studies on WEEE in Europe large and small household appliances, consumer electronics, IT and telecommunication equipment from a vast majority of the total waste volumes, are approximately 70 – 75 percent. The use period of electrical and electronic equipment differs from country to country. The factors that should be taken into consideration are for example GDP per capita and purchasing power of households in these countries. Variations are also to be expected between urban and rural areas and between agricultural, heavily industrialized, or more service- oriented regional economics. Use period of electrical and electronic equipment varies significantly. Different estimates have been presented in various studies. For household equipment the estimates vary from 7 years up to 30 years. • The second hand imports of EEE Due to the different legislation some countries export used electrical and electronic equipment to Kosovo. The second hand exports are difficult to estimate. Second hand imports play a small role in total imports. The percentage of second hand imports has steadily declined past four years, only computers and portable digital equipment being an exception. In the future it seems that only imports of used computers have a significant effect on WEEE volumes. In other groups the second hand imports are relatively small. • General awareness of new legislation According to the interviews almost all of the recipients were not aware of the forthcoming new waste law and the RoHS and WEEE Directives. • General attitude toward integrated environmental management system (EMS) The results of the interviews indicate very low attitude towards integrated environmental management system (ISO 14001 or equal). As the matter of fact very small numbers of the recipients are aware of ISO 9001 and ISO 14000, which is the reason that we will give the short explanation of these two standards. ISO 9001 Certification (Quality) is a model for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation

The research methodology is based on available data. Unfortunately they were nearly not available from the existing statistics. Therefore a questionnaire was send out and in addition interviews in selected companies were carried out. The data should be collected from different statistics and by interviewing electrical and electronic equipment retailers and authorities. Another source of data could be customs statistics and Statistical Office. Imports of some most common electrical and electronic equipment have grown in past 5 years in Kosovo. Used electrical and electronic equipment play a little role in total imports of EEE. However in some product group about 10 percent of the total imports consist of used equipment. Second hand imports consist mostly of large household equipment, such as refrigerators. The general awareness of new legislation and the EU directives is very low. Most of the retailers are not aware of new waste legislation and are not aware of the WEEE and RoHS directives. According to the interviews environmental aspects play a minor role among the EEE importers in Kosovo, there is no company who has environmental manager. The most important thing in begin is to introduce that -What is electrical and electronic waste? Because of their hazardous content, electrical and electronic equipment cause major environmental problems during the waste management phase if not properly pretreated. As more than 90% of waste from EEE it is land filled, incinerated or re-covered without any pre treatment, a large proportion of various pollutants found in the municipal waste stream come from WEEE. The environmental burden due to the production of electrical and electronic products ecological baggage exceeds by far the environmental burden due to the production of materials constituting the other sub streams of the municipal waste stream. As a consequence, enhanced recycling of WEEE should be a major factor in preserving resources, in particular energy. The main objective of this contribution is performing a mapping and performing a research a general level market of waste that originates from electrical and electronic equipment. It consists of following sections. Estimation of the electrical and electronic waste volumes is the most important sources of the WEEE. Estimation the import volumes of second hand EEE Estimation of the general awareness, among the EEE importers, authorities and retailers for the EU legislation. Also the retailers and manufacturers’ attitude towards recycling of electrical and electronic waste will be estimated. • Statistical methods Statistics with import figures of EEE ordered from the Customs Board and Statistical Office Statistics should be used to estimate the import volumes of the electrical and electronic equipment. Statistics on standard of living in country from Statistical Office should be used to calculate the amount of households and penetration of some electrical and electronic appliances. Statistics from Ministry of Environment should be used to introduce the present situation of WEEE treatment. • The method based on the penetration of white goods.

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62 valuable storage space and leading to more dumping at a later date. It is noticeable that the lighter users (the smaller companies) were nearly three times as likely to admit to this solution. One notable answer to this question, from a smaller company was: “We tend to put our obsolete equipment in the skip out the back and it seems to just disappear overnight! Staff or locals must take it.” Of the 17% who claimed to offer a ‘second use’ of their equipment, the smaller companies were more likely to use an unofficial solution (give to staff, family or friends 5%) whilst the larger users were more likely to claim it ends up with charities or not-for-profit organisation (12%).

and servicing. This is a Quality Management Standard covering all main processes within a company, ranging from Sales (contract review), Design, Manufacturing to Delivery & Shipping, ensuring that these processes are run under controlled conditions. ISO 14000 Certification (Environmental) is a specification for environmental management systems, applicable to any type of organization. ISO 14001 is an environmental management system (EMS) standard. ISO 14001 offers a common, harmonized approach for organizations to achieve and demonstrate sound environmental performance. The main objective of ISO 14001 is to help organizations manage the environmental aspects and impacts of their operations while always working toward continual improvement.

Question 3b-for those respondents who recycle When did you start to dispose of your ICT equipment in an environmentally friendly manner?

One of the main parts of this study was a questionnaire sent to Companies in Kosovo. Following the main results:

Up to one year ago 10% Up to two years ago 5% Up to five years ago Up to Ten years ago Don’t know 85% Question 4- Legislation Knowledge How much do you know about the following legislation?

Question 1 – Level of ICT Usage Can you estimate your company’s installed base of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment? (This includes desktop computers, laptops, phones, printers and faxes) to the nearest unit: Light Users- 5-50 units Medium Users- 51-250 units Heavy Users-251-5000 units

61% 28% 11%

Nothing Heard of it WEEE Directive 89% 7%

Knowbasics

VeryFamiliar

4%

0%

Basle Agreement 96% 4%

0%

0%

63% 16% 4% 17%

RoHS Directive 93% 7%

0%

0%

It is thrown out It goes to landfill Stored it for later Dumped total

8% 14% 22% 27%

To staff, family and friends Charities/not-for profit organisations Sell/auction them to SME’s Returned to leasing company Resold/Reused Total

5% 12% 10% 2%

The respondents were asked how much they knew about the WEEE directive along with two other pieces of legislation, which were thought to be less high profile and therefore the answers should be correspondingly lower. This was spread across all company sizes. One would-be respondent suggested a reason for such a worrying lack of awareness, just before refusing to answer the survey: “We’re not really interested, thanks. We are a small company so I don’t see how legislation would affect us. We would throw anything in a skip.”

Question 2 – Disposal Rate What proportion of your ICT hardware budget is made operationally obsolete every two years? Careful Users- 1-10% Average Users- 11-30% Profligate- 31-100% Don’t Know Question 3 – Disposal Destination What happens to the ICT equipment you discard?

Question 4a- for those who know of the WEEE Directive How did you first hear about the WEEE Directive? Press Business relationship (Client/Supplier) Trade Organisation Government Communication Internet Don’t Know

Use a council collection scheme Use a disposal agent Recycled Total Taking this into account, the answers were almost unchanged, most notably with exactly the same number, over 49% freely admitting that they either dumped it or stored it – a procrastination of the problem, most likely taking up

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4 1 4 5 3 0

63 Question 5-Staying Compliant How do you keep in touch with your environmental compliance obligations?

21-33% More Don’t know

National Press Trade Press Government Communication Trade Organisation Supplier Client Internet Another department in the company Not my responsibility Don’t keep up to date Don’t know

The amount of WEEE generated in Kosovo in the moment is very difficult to calculate because of not existing viable sources for such information’s. The data should be collected from different statistics and by interviewing electrical and electronic equipment retailers and authorities. Another source of data could be customs statistics and Statistical Office. All this sources of information doesn’t have such statistical information and also in the moment there are no regulations in place that oblige them to provide such information. All the information’s that one can have are on the good will bases of the people that are working in such institutions, all are unofficial information’s. The only information that we got are that from 1999 to 2004 in Kosovo imported amount of EEE are: 135058, 35 t (in tones), 7786221 m (in metres),, 609m³ (in cubic meters).

20% 12% 5% 4% 5% 1% 10% 2% 35% 4% 2%

Question 6- Awareness of environmental issues Can you select the least environmentally damaging process from the following? Parts recovery Incineration Reselling Materials recycling Landfill Refurbishing Component Recycling Don’t Know

Other information is from Mobile phone operator in Kosovo that the number of subscribers is 303000 and in year 2004 the number of new subscribers per month is 3000.The plans of this operator are that in two years around 600000 subscribers.

4% 1% 26% 20% 3% 15% 29% 2%

5. STRATEGY FOR WASTE REUSE AND RECYCLING A strategic approach is required in order to overcome the many barriers outlined in the previous section. All the required elements for a major increase in the recovery and recycling of waste must be put into place and the forces and drivers to achieve this must be managed effectively and proactively. The active participation of the various stakeholders is of paramount importance. Several of the potential required instruments and tools are outlined. It is not sufficient, however, to implement these on an ad hoc basis. It is imperative that these driving forces are put into place in a considered and strategic manner. Specific responsibilities must be identified and the relevant target groups must be assigned these responsibilities, so that a maximum effect is ensured. The implementation of such a strategy also requires that all the measures are mutually supportive. The aim of this strategy is to reduce the waste we are creating and then to convert that waste into useful raw materials that can be used beneficially in the manufacture of viable products. By a series of actions, delivering a range of tools to the stakeholders involved (all the population). This strategy will reduce our unnecessary consumption of finite resources as well as diminishing our dependency on landfill and the concomitant pollution that it can cause.

Respondents selected reuse as the fairly logical right answer as a resell and refurbish. But some times reselling, especially to developing countries like we are ,simply delays the problems of disposal ,it is likely to just dump it as we do not have the resources or laws in place to ensure that it is disposed of in an environmentally manner. Overall, 53% of respondents selected an answer involving recycling, which seems to have common environmentally friendly connotations. Of course this contradicts the process of recycling, which takes place only when a piece of equipment and all of its constituent parts, cannot be repaired and/or used again. Question 7- Taking Responsibility Who do you feel should take the lead for implementation of environmentally responsible ICT disposal laws? Manufacturers Channel Resellers Trade Organisations User Company Government

34% 3% 0% 25% 38%

• Five Elements of the Strategy There are five main components or strands of this strategy. Each has a different focus, but all are required and all are interdependent. Without any one of these elements, the strategy is less likely to be successful. Indeed, it is inevitable that the strategy would fail in the absence of the more crucial elements. Each element of the strategy is driven by the application of a number of tools and instruments. The five elements of the strategy are:

Question 8- Cost of implementation Please estimate the proportion of the ICT budget, that it might cost you to implement the WEEE Directive? Under 5% 6-10% 11-20%

0% 0% 20%

58% 21% 1%

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64 responsibility and provision of adequate resources are required to drive forward the actions necessary to create the conditions under which a sustainable recycling system of the WEEE can prosper in our country.

1. Raise awareness of the problem and the need for change. Motivate people so that they are willing to make a change in behavior relating to waste and recycled products. 2. Develop and deliver information, giving people the knowledge how to best to reduce and recycle waste and the confidence to do so. 3. Develop and put into place the economic conditions to make recovery and recycling of waste financially and socially viable. 4. Identify and set up the correct physical infrastructure to facilitate the collection and reprocessing of waste. 5. Create and enforce the legislative framework to ensure that waste producers comply with best practice and reduce their disposal of waste to landfill.

REFERENCES European Parliament (2000): Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council, on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment,European Parliament, Brussels 2000 European Union (2003): Electrical and Electronic products directives:”Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)”;”Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS)”,2003 Kosovo Trust Agency (2004): Environmental Strategy and Sustainable development for Kosovo, 2004 Rexha, I. (2004): Recycling – Disassembly. MSc Thesis, University for Business and Technology (UBT), Prishtina, Kosovo, 2004. UNMIK (2004): Provisional Institution of Self-Government, Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning ,report 2004

Central to any strategy is the question of who will have the responsibility to implement it. In order to optimize the coordination and to ensure a coherent implementation of the wide range of activities and the development of tools suggested herein, it is recommended that responsibility is allocated and that sufficient resources are made available. Also, since so many instrument developers are required to act and so many groups targeted, these must be brought together in an effective manner to ensure maximum co-operation. Above all, allocation of responsibility and provision of adequate resources are required to drive forward the actions required to create the conditions under which recycling can prosper. It is essential to bring together all the various elements of the strategy and marshal all the relevant stakeholders into appropriate action. It is suggested that responsibility be assigned, but it is outside the remit of this study to further suggest the form or designation of such responsibility. It is further suggested, however, that relevant stakeholders be involved in any process aimed at bringing to fruition the strategy and consequent actions. 6. SUMMARY At the widest level is the strategy itself in order to create a sustainable culture of recycling in the country. Within the strategy, and driving it, a range of tools and policy instruments are required in order to develop the proper awareness, information, economic, infrastructure and legislative conditions necessary for a higher rate of recycling of the WEEE. Several such recommended tools and instruments are identified and described. However, in order to bring about and deliver these instruments, several specific actions are required by the various main stakeholders. The carrying out of these actions delivers the tools and instruments required to put into place the framework for widespread recycling. These stakeholder groups and their required actions are identified and described. All stages of the recycling chain (supply, collection, processing and demand) must be developed in our country. All are interdependent and mutually supportive, and all require positive actions by a range of stakeholders, using a carrot and stick approach, to solve the problem. This overall strategy to create stable, long-term recycling markets for WEEE in our country must be developed and coordinated properly. In particular, allocation of

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