According to the latest survey by the ECOTIC association, only 8% of households in the country properly dispose of used small household appliances. What appliances are in the homes of Romanians, how many of them are no longer used and why do people not want to give them up and recycle them properly?

The survey was conducted by telephone based on data collected from 1,500 respondents and has a margin of error of +/- 2.5%. The results were announced on Friday, as October 14 marks the International Day for the Recycling of Electrical Waste.

How many households have the most popular appliances: smartphones – in all, and irons – in 93%. Mixers, vacuum cleaners and hair dryers are in more than 80% of homes, and microwave ovens are in 70% of households, while toasters are in 59% of homes, and a similar proportion of drills. Only 24% of homes still have digital cameras.

One tenth of the small appliances analyzed in the study and found in Romanian homes are stored, even if they are not used or broken. At the European level, this percentage shows a better situation in Romania compared to other European countries such as Italy (29%), the Netherlands (17%), Great Britain (14%) and Slovenia (12%).

In exact figures, 10.5% is quantified at 17,000 tonnes, according to the ECOTIC estimate. A third of them are non-functional, and even in this context, only 8% of Romanians intend to get rid of them in the future, while 42% say they will continue to keep them.

Why do we keep devices we won’t use anyway?

Almost every home has electronics that haven’t been used in years, whether it’s old phones in drawers, an iron in the pantry, or an old vacuum cleaner. Why do we keep them?

42% of respondents wish to have backup equipment or attribute sentimental value to it (the European average is 68%).

At the same time, 32% do not know what to do with them and where to put them. Digital cameras are small pieces of equipment that are kept unused by 5% of the population, even if they are in working order. At the same time, only 24% of homes have a digital camera.

When asked if they have mobile phones at home, phones that they no longer use, in 54% of cases the answer was yes. A mobile phone can be found in all homes in Romania, and 27% of them have more than five such devices, both functional and non-functional.

There are 16 billion mobile phones around the world, 5.3 billion of which will become trash in 2022. Only a small fraction of them will be properly collected and recycled.

What are the disposal habits of the population?

A third of those surveyed actively participate in the concept of circular economy, deciding to give to relatives or sell functional equipment that they no longer use. This habit is quite popular in Romania, compared to other countries where this habit has much less weight.

Regarding electrical equipment disposal habits, only 8.4% of households disposed of it properly, and 4,550 tons were handed over with household waste to informal scrap metal collectors or simply left in space.

This is due to the still low level of awareness and especially the lack of collection infrastructure.

Only 29% of citizens would know about a collection point for electrical waste.