Belvaux, May 29th,2024
Press release
On Tuesday, May 28, ECOTREL ASBL and ECOBATTERIEN ASBL celebrated their 20th and 15th anniversaries respectively in the splendid building of Mudam.
This event was an opportunity to welcome numerous national stakeholders, including representatives from ministries, administrations, federations, professional chambers, municipalities, as well as colleagues from the international scene.
Indeed, the WEEE FORUM and EUCOBAT, which respectively bring together organizations managing waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and batteries internationally, gathered for the first time at the invitation of the two Luxembourgish associations. They held their respective general assemblies and organized joint conferences at the European Convention Center Luxembourg on this occasion.
The ceremony was enriched by an immersive visual experience focused on the precious resources that can be found in WEEE deposits and battery waste.
With their expertise developed over their 20 and 15 years of existence respectively, ECOTREL ASBL and ECOBATTERIEN ASBL have collected and recycled no less than 95,600,000 kg of waste electrical and electronic equipment and no less than 1,940,000 kg of portable batteries through national networks over these periods, thus highlighting the major role these organizations play in Luxembourg's circular economy.
Over the past 20 years, there have been numerous upheavals both legally, technologically, and socially, leading to the major paradigm of the circular economy. The realm of extended producer responsibility for WEEE in Luxembourg has been very proactive on numerous fronts, particularly in reuse since 2018 with the Social Re-Use project in resource centers, even before the publication of various legal texts aligning with the "Null Offall Lëtzebuerg" strategy. The battery sector has also been active with the advent of electric mobility and especially a fundamental regulatory change with the transition from a national legal framework to a European regulation.
About:
ECOTREL ASBL was founded in 2004 and brings together over 930 companies active in the sale of electrical and electronic equipment, for which it assumes legal obligations. Its mission is to organize the collection and treatment of waste from this equipment.
ECOBATTERIEN ASBL was founded in 2009 by ECOTREL ASBL, the Luxembourg Confederation, the Federation of Craftsmen, and FEDIL to assume the legal obligations on behalf of its more than 1000 members. Its mission is to organize the collection and treatment of battery waste.
WEEE FORUM is an international non-profit association representing 50 organizations that assume the obligations of producers and importers of electrical and electronic devices worldwide, of which ECOTREL is a member.
EUCOBAT is a European association of national battery collection systems. It ensures that all battery waste is collected and recycled in an environmentally friendly manner, of which ECOBATTERIEN is a member.