Electronic waste collection campaign is being announced in Lithuania

United Nations General assembly proclaimed 2011 as the International Year of Forests. The aim of it is to draw attention to the importance of forests in keeping our environment clean. In response to these important events on March 15th we announce the environmental - ecological campaign "Let’s Save Nature Together!".

Both residents and business institutions in the cities of Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Alytus, Marijampolė and Utena will be offered free collection service of their old household appliances, electrical equipment and other electronics. The campaign will proceed until the end of April and will be crowned by tree planting in the Lithuanian forests most affected by the last year’s storm.

According to the EU directives currently Lithuania must collect and recycle over 40 percent of the electronic waste counting from the total weight released in the domestic market. According to S. Ašmonas, the current situation, is shameful - Lithuania is already unable to meet these requirements, while the European Parliament proposes to oblige Member States to collect as much as 65 percent of electrical and electronic waste in each country by 2016, of whom 50-75 per cent (depending on category) should be re-processed and 5 percent. - re-used.

"We do operate long enough in this market to draw conclusions about the common trends - in the absence of a consistent public awareness and education, not just individual people, but even business companies or public institutions often do not know where to put old computers, household appliances and other electronic waste, - notes S. Ašmonas. – Therefore it is no wonder that so much of these wastes lie around in backyards, roadsides and forests”. Tree planting at the end of this campaign - although small, but still a tribute to constantly polluted nature. For each tone of electronic waste collected during the campaign in Lithuania we commit to plant 10 young trees. "Based on the statistics of our previous campaigns we hope to plant at least 700 new trees”.

During the campaign people and companies are invited to register calling free phone number 8 800 00653, short number 118 or our regional representatives phone numbers. All the electronic waste will be collected from the houses or offices at the convenient time.

Information about the campaign is available in a special website www.elektronikosakcija.lt and mass media.

Let’s Save Nature Together!