Last year, each European household had, on average, 74 small electronic items, of which 13 were not used and four were broken. In 2022 only, the world generated about 24.5 million tons of small EEE, which is four times the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Set out to protect nature from illegal dumping of e-waste and to raise awareness of the growing issue of low collection rates, Electrão commissioned an art installation made of small and big electronic items for International E-Waste Day 2022. Hordes of washing machines, fridges, laptops, phones, and vacuum cleaners were displayed on the beautiful river side of Tagus in Belém which left no passer-by unintrigued. The placement of this installation was no accident. Electrão aimed at drawing attention to the growing issue of e-waste, and more so its obscure dimension when found in such a beautiful environment.

With this installation, that when seen from above formed the recycling symbol, Electrão emphasized how urgent it is to tackle two particular issues regarding e-waste:

• hoarding of appliances that can be reused, refurbished, or recycled to provide new raw materials and;
• the need for the correct collection these items for proper treatment.

Electrão has been a pioneer in e-waste management in Portugal since its foundation in 2005.To this day, Electrão is the only entity to manage three waste streams in the country: batteries, packaging, and WEEE.