The Ecobank Campaign – Your Friendly Recycling Bank

Only one month after its launch, the campaign “Ecobank - Your Friendly Recycling Bank boasts over 2 tons of used appliances recycled, 300 subscribers, and 10,000 points awarded for the ECOnomy Books of said subscribers.

România Internațional, 27.06.2014, 13:18

The aims of this project, in its second edition, run by the Environ Association in Partnership with the Romanian Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, is to encourage selective collection of used electronics and appliances, as well as of used batteries and rechargeable batteries, considering that Romania lags behind a lot in comparison to other European countries. Environment Minister Attila Korodi said that only about a sixth of electronics and appliances, as well as batteries and rechargeable batteries sold are selectively collected after use, creating pollution in the places they are discarded illegally:

Minister Attila Korodi: “We have designated June waste collection month. That means that all our efforts are focused on this sector. We are talking first and foremost about clear sector regulations which we plan to finalize this month, in areas such as: packaging and used packaging waste, disaffected vehicles, used electronics and appliances, as well as construction waste. The new European directive compels us to have clear regulations to this effect. I believe that if we do what we are supposed to this month, the Romanian waste industry has the capacity to grow, and even become an important job generator.”

Bucharest already has 6 collection caravans in place. The Ecobank website (www.ecobanca.ro) lists their routes along the two remaining months in the campaign.

Here is Minister Attila Korodi once again: “One of the obligations is to provide at least one collection point for every 50,000 inhabitants. In this context, putting things in perspective, the Romanian capital Bucharest should have around 40 locations. The local authorities have made significant efforts to reach the collection targets, which is why in 2007, in my first term as Minister of the Environment, I envisaged the campaign ‘The Great Clean-up’, a project meant to support collection efforts, but also raise awareness of the importance that selective collection of this type of waste has. We have collected significant quantities already, but the targets are very difficult to reach. I believe that the local authorities should take over this concept, improve it, adapt it to their local particularities. One such example we have right in front of the Ministry of the Environment, as part of a Bucharest-wide project.”

The number of participants in the first Ecobank campaign last year stood at 1000; they disposed of roughly 12 tons of used electric appliances and batteries at various mobile collection points around the city. For the used appliances they have disposed of during the present campaign, participants will be rewarded with points on a card they get after they have enlisted in the campaign. The participants who have gathered a certain number of points have the right choose a prize at the end of the campaign on September 15th. The largest number of points, 35, are given for large appliances such as fridges, washing machines etc.

In order to get the smallest prize in the campaign, a camera, you need 300 points, while the big prize, a fridge, requires 15 hundred points. Here is Andrei Orban, the president of the Environ Association: “These cards are actually IDs for the citizens involved in the campaign. In the following months, our volunteers will be in these trailers awarding points according to the regulations. We believe the prizes we offer in this campaign are very attractive indeed, as among them there are refrigerators, TV sets, washing machines, tablets etc. But what is actually important is to get a positive reaction from citizens and get them ready to participate. We try to boost selective collecting and convey this message, that in Romania people are interested in building up an environmentally-friendly society and stop lagging behind other countries in this respect.”

The Ecobank, whose mobile trailers are adding to the other 27 collecting centers in Bucharest, is the first mobile collection network fitted with the latest equipment for registering, storing and dismantling home appliances.