Motivated by the interesting article of Jane Zhang about electrical and electronic waste in China, I carried out a survey on what happens in Greece on this issue.

Before starting, a general world view:
According to the Initiative of Solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) which is supported by the U.N, NGO?s and governments, in the USA every year 9.359 thousands of tons of e-waste are produced (29.79 Kg/person), in China 7.273 thousands of tons (5,36 Kg/person), in India 2.751 thousands of tons (2.25 Kg/person), in Germany 1.899 thousands of tons (23,23 Kg/person), in Russia 1.477 thousands of tons (10,41 Kg/person), in South Korea 961 thousands of tons (19,22 Kg/person), in Egypt 315 thousands of tons (3,84 Kg/person), in Kenya 44 thousands of tons (1,05 Kg/person).
http://step-initiative.org/index.php/WorldMap.html

The country with the biggest e-waste production/person in the world is Norway with 33,14 Kg/person per year.
These figures are about the year 2014

In Greece, currently, about 166 thousand tons of e-waste are produced (14.80 Kg/person).

The Greek legislation states that e-waste is in priority, because of the danger it creates, the significant environmental impact, but also the dramatic increase in their quantity over the last years.

The responsibility for the organization of the collection and reuse of e-waste is imposed to the producers and distributors of electricity and electronic equipment.

In 2004, started the operation of an alternative system of management for e-waste, which is responsible for their collection, transport and treatment in special facilities.

The system collected and treated 31.5 thousands of tons of e-waste in 2007, 47 thousands in 2008 and 63 thousands in 2009, over covering EU's demands. The aim was the collection of 4 Kg/person per year of e-waste from domestic use, totally 44 thousand tons per year for Greece, accounting for 30% of all Greek e-waste.

The graph above represents the collection of e-waste per year in Greece:



Since 2009, there has been a decrease in the amount of recycling. This is partly due to the diminution of consumption because of the economic crisis but also to the collection of e-waste from non-authorized groups who aim to earn profit from the materials used, but with an unknown way and a uncontrollable management of waste.

EU aims to reach 85% recycling of e-waste until 2019.

It is a long way to go.

References:
http://www.step-initiative.org/step-e-waste-world-map.html
http://www.econews.gr/2013/12/16/ile???. ?ό???ronika-apovlita-109487/ (in Greek)
http://www.electrocycle.gr (in Greek)
http://www.eoan.gr/el/ (in Greek)