EXPERIENCIAS DE EDUCACIÓN AMBIENTAL EN EL ÁMBITO DE LA GESTIÓN DE RESIDUOS ELÉCTRICOS Y ELECTRÓNICOS

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present and analyze the effectiveness of different environmental education experiences aimed at consumers of electrical and electronic toys. To do this, different campaigns of collection of waste electrical and electronic toys were designed and run at schools. Those actions differed in the way of communicating environmental information to children and parents, whose are ultimately responsible for the management of the waste generated by the electrical and electronic toys at its end-of-life. The environmental information provided is related to the material composition of the waste, its proper management, treatments of end-of-life, reuse, WEEE mark identification, etc. This information was disseminated to both children and parents through: 1) diptych and triptych in paper format, 2) detailed personal explanations, 3) media (video) and 4) information and communication technologies. Finally, the effectiveness of environmental education actions was determined according to the quantities of waste collected in each campaign. Action 3 and Action 4 were the most effective actions achieving 0.18 kg WEEE/child. Furthermore, these results are useful for the design of collection and awareness campaigns of other fractions of waste electrical and electronic equipment. Keywords: waste electric and electronic equipment; WEEE; toy; environmental education