Out of sight, but not out of mind: EKOTECH on e-waste

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Out of sight, but not out of mind: EKOTECH on e-waste

14 October 2026

14 October is International E-Waste Day, which is a good moment to open your drawers and count how many old phones you’re keeping ‘just in case’, cables for devices you stopped using long ago, and chargers made obsolete by newer standards. This isn’t just unwanted kit: it’s materials and resources that could be going back into circulation.

An old smartphone that’s been sitting in a drawer for years. Another handset kept ‘as a spare’. Plus a tangle of micro-USB leads, chargers, and adapters for devices long since replaced by newer models and the now near-universal USB-C.

Sound familiar?

Small devices and accessories like these were the focus of this year’s International E-Waste Day. Its ‘Fast Tech’ theme highlights the small electronics that find their way into our homes so quickly, only to be just as easily forgotten in a drawer or thrown into the wrong waste stream.

The circular economy also starts with how we deal with the things we no longer need. Rather than languishing in drawers for years or ending up in general waste, old electrical and electronic equipment can be returned to circulation. It’s one of many examples showing that waste can be a source of valuable materials. And that’s exactly the thinking we’ll be discussing at EKOTECH – Circular Economy Trade Fair.

EKOTECH – Circular Economy Trade Fair
Expo Kielce | March 3–4, 2027

(BB)

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The coffee runs out; the cycle goes on: EKOTECH on the circular economy

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Out of sight, but not out of mind: EKOTECH on e-waste

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