Sofia Elena Colesca

Management of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Romania: A mini-review.

Around the world there are growing concerns for waste electrical and electronic equipment. This is motivated by the harmful effects of waste electrical and electronic equipment on the environment, but also by the perspectives of materials recovery. Differences between countries regarding waste electrical and electronic equipment management are notable in the European Union. Romania is among the countries that have made significant efforts to comply with European Union regulations, but failed reaching the collection target. The article presents a mini review of the waste electrical and electronic equipment management system in Romania, based on legislation and policy documents, statistical data, research studies and reports published by national and international organisations. The article debates subjects like legislative framework, the electrical and electronic equipment Romanian market, the waste electrical and electronic equipment collection system, waste electrical and electronic equipment processing and waste electrical and electronic equipment behaviour. The recast of the European directive brings new challenges to national authorities and to other stakeholders involved in the waste electrical and electronic equipment management. Considering the fact that Romania has managed a collection rate of roughly 1 kg capita−1 in the last years, the new higher collection targets established by the waste electrical and electronic equipment Directive offer a serious challenge for the management system. Therefore, another aim of the article is to highlight the positive and negative aspects in the Romanian waste electrical and electronic equipment field, in order to identify the flows that should be corrected and the opportunities that could help improve this system to the point of meeting the European standards imposed by the European Directive.

Feasibility assessment of investments in waste incineration facilities: Case study of Bucharest-Ilfov region

The regulators of the waste management sector should pay close attention to the investments made in the field. In addition to environmental impacts, economic analysis can provide policy makers with valuable information for proper decision. Taking into account this requirement, the aim of the present paper is to evaluate the economic efficiency of an incinerator with energy recovery investment, located in Bucharest-Ilfov region, Romania. A detailed investment feasibility evaluation is made using the main economic efficiency indicators in order to reveal the large benefits of this kind of facilities. Key words: Waste incineration, economic efficiency, waste electrical and electronic equipment, (WEEE), municipal waste , energy recovery. INTRODUCTION Managing solid waste is a big challenge of municipal areas (Nzeadibe, 2009; Hernandez and Cruz-Medina, 2011). Because of rapid urbanization, the quantities of domestic solid waste increased, meanwhile the spaces for disposal decreased. So, the subject of waste treat-ment is a topical one, as a result of the various difficulties that communities face regarding the limited opportunities for waste disposal. At present, many waste treatment techniques are used, namely: mechanical treatment, biological treatment, mechanical-biological treatment and thermal treatment. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvan-tages in terms of economic or environmental efficiency. Incineration is the most important thermal process cur-rently used and is equally applicable to mixed municipal waste and to residual waste fractions.