Ecoelit is the Italian consortium that undertakes the recovery and recycling of rechargeable batteries and electric products that have reached the end of their life span. It structure was organised to ease as much as possible the collection of these products as by current laws.
The Consortium has activated many collection points all over the national territory. When this stage is complete, the Consortium takes care to transport the waste to centres authorised for stocking, and from here they are periodically sent to the French S.n.a.m., a company specialised in the recovery of metals, such as cadmium, nickel and lithium that, once they have been extracted and purified, are ready for reuse in the production of new batteries.
Therefore, not only are a large quantity of dangerous metals prevented from polluting the ground and the water, there is also a remarkable saving in terms of natural resources.
A similar itinerary is followed by electric and electronic products: collected at the 154 collection centres and from her to disassembly for the separation of components (plastic, iron, copper). Metals and plastics can, in fact, enter as secondary raw materials in some productive processes.
This operation is undertaken by the Liscate social cooperative "Vita Vera", also committed on the environmental front.
Marco Arnaboldi, chairman of Ecoelit, points out: "Rechargeable batteries contain toxic materials, such as cadmium, nickel and lithium; they also possess non-biodegradable inert components. Ecoelit disposes of 24 t of exhausted power sources and about 8 t of electric and electronic products. And this is just the beginning: this figure, in fact, represents only 10% of what could be recuperated if only there were more care and more awareness ".
July.2002
Ecoleit
Cooperativa Vita Vera
