E-waste collection drive at the Club

Every home has that drawer: the phone that stopped charging, the charger for a device that no longer exists, the earbuds with one side gone silent. A well-run e-waste collection drive gets that material out of the house, takes it to people who know how to recycle it and teaches the neighborhood to dispose of it the right way. Electronics, though, need care that bottle caps and cooking oil do not: in Brazil there is a specific law, and many devices still hold someone's photos and passwords. This guide covers the whole path, from the partnership with the official drop-off point to the final report.

📱What is e-waste and why should the Club get involved?

E-waste is the popular name for electrical and electronic equipment at the end of its useful life. Brazil's Decree 10.240 of February 12, 2020, calls these items household electrical and electronic products that run on up to 240 volts, and its Annex I lists everything from cell phones, tablets and laptops to cables, chargers, headphones, remote controls, video game consoles and flash drives.

According to the Global E-waste Monitor 2024, a report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the world generated 62 billion kilograms of e-waste in 2022, and only 22.3% of that weight had documented formal collection and recycling. Brazil is the largest generator in South America, with about 2.4 billion kilograms in 2022, and the report's country table records only 79 million kilograms documented as formally collected and recycled in the country, just over 3%.

Devices stay in the drawer because nobody knows where to drop them off and because taking them there is a hassle. The drive removes both barriers. In the bottle cap and can tab charity drive, the material turns into income for a cause; here, the electronics go intact into the official system, and the Club's gain is the service it provides.

⚖️What does Brazil's e-waste law say about proper disposal?

Brazil's Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos (National Solid Waste Policy, Law 12.305 of August 2, 2010), in Article 33, item VI, requires manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers of electronics to set up reverse logistics, the product's return path after use, separate from the city's garbage collection. Consumers must return used products to the retailer or distributor (Art. 33, § 4).

Decree 10.240/2020 defines a drop-off point (ponto de recebimento) as a fixed or mobile site that receives and temporarily stores the devices, and a managing organization (entidade gestora) as the body created by manufacturers and importers to run the system. Each municipality served must have at least one point for every 25,000 inhabitants, and Annex III lists 400 target cities, all with an estimated population above 80,000. The fifth year of the schedule, 2025, set a target of 17% of the weight sold in 2018.

Two rules directly affect a drive run with a managing organization, which works as a mobile drop-off point. Article 10 bans selling, donating or transferring devices discarded at drop-off points to anyone outside the system, and Article 11 says whoever drops items off receives no payment, except for incentives created by the companies or managing organizations themselves. No deals with scrap dealers: everything the neighborhood handed in goes intact to the official partner.

Phase 2 in Annex II of Decree 10.240/2020: annual, non-cumulative targets based on the weight sold in 2018, subject to annual review (Art. 50).

📍Where to drop off e-waste near you and how to set up the partnership?

In Brazil, two nonprofit managing organizations run online locators: ABREE (Associação Brasileira de Reciclagem de Eletroeletrônicos e Eletrodomésticos, the Brazilian association for recycling electronics and household appliances), founded in 2011, searches by CEP (Brazil's postal code) and product at abree.org.br; Green Eletron, created in 2016 by the Associação Brasileira da Indústria Elétrica e Eletrônica (Abinee, the Brazilian electrical and electronics industry association), has a drop-off point locator at greeneletron.org.br. Search from the church's address.

For a drive on a set date, contact the organization before announcing anything. With Green Eletron, the applicant sends a proposal with the audience, location and period, and the partnership is formalized in a Termo de Cooperação (cooperation agreement); according to the organization, collection and final disposal are usually at its expense. ABREE runs traveling drives with government bodies, organizations and companies, with temporary points at schools and town squares, and in 2026 it listed events in cities such as Itanhaém (São Paulo), Farroupilha (Rio Grande do Sul) and Rio de Janeiro.

It is the church that makes the partnership official. The Termo de Cooperação sets out the responsibilities of the organization and of the partner, and Green Eletron's form to become a collection point asks for a CNPJ (Brazil's company registration number); so the Director takes the idea to the pastor and the church board and checks with the Conference or Mission how to formalize it. If no organization is available, there is a smaller plan: receive items during a short window and take everything, with adults, to a fixed drop-off point the same day. Call ahead, because store collection bins have size and volume limits.

🗓️How to organize an e-waste collection drive step by step?

Use the event project management method: a fixed date, planning backward and one owner for each task. The Director handles the partnership; each Counselor takes a station with their Unit; the Club secretary builds the tally spreadsheet.

On the day, the stations are reception, a data guidance table (with an adult), sorting into boxes by category without opening anything, and a separate container for loose batteries. On the poster, follow what Article 42 of the decree says the system's communication must teach: where to drop off, that electronics do not go in the regular trash and that data must be erased first. Also say what the drive does not accept, such as lamps and car batteries, and arrange pickup for the same day.

🔐How to safely dispose of an old phone?

Decree 10.240/2020 states, in Article 31, that it is up to the consumer to remove private data before disposal, including from memory cards, and that companies and managing organizations are not responsible for anything left on the device. Under Article 32, whoever drops it off irrevocably gives up ownership and accepts that the data on it cannot be recovered.

The steps are in the table, taken from the Celulares e Tablets (Phones and Tablets) booklet by CERT.br (Brazil's internet security incident response center) and from Green Eletron. The Club's role is to guide: a Pathfinder does not turn on or unlock anyone's device. A person who arrives with a phone full of photos follows the steps right there, on their own device, with an adult beside them, or comes back later. If the Club has already run a digital inclusion workshop for seniors, call on the same adult volunteers.

Sources: CERT.br, Celulares e Tablets booklet; Green Eletron, frequently asked questions.

🔋How to dispose of batteries: why do they stay separate?

Decree 10.240/2020 leaves out removable batteries and lamps, which have their own systems. Law 12.305/2010 includes batteries in mandatory reverse logistics (Art. 33, II), and Resolution 401/2008 of the Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente (Conama, Brazil's National Environment Council) sets the rules for ordinary and alkaline batteries and for lead-acid, nickel-cadmium and mercuric oxide batteries: the store that sells them must take back used ones of the same type and keep a collection point (Arts. 4 and 19). Lithium batteries are not on that list, and for them the resolution calls for shared collection programs among manufacturers, retailers and government (Art. 5). For any type, dumping them in the open, burning them or throwing them into water is prohibited (Art. 22).

Green Eletron does not accept loose lithium batteries, because of the risk of explosion, only inside devices they cannot be removed from. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns that even used batteries hold enough energy to hurt someone or start a fire, and that a dented or damaged battery creates a fire risk. Team rule: no device is opened, no battery is removed (ABREE advises against tampering with the products), and any device with a swollen battery goes into a separate box, without being squeezed, until the adult checks with the partner.

Sources: Decree 10.240/2020, Conama Resolution 401/2008, Green Eletron and EPA.

📊How to report the drive's results to the church and the neighborhood?

In the spreadsheet, record by category how many items came in and, if there is a scale, the approximate weight. Note separately the weight reported by the partner, saying who measured each number. Agree in advance on what proof you will receive: Green Eletron provides a Declaração de Coleta (collection statement) to partner drop-off points, and ABREE explains that, at the end of recycling, a Certificado de Destinação Final (CDF, certificate of final disposal) is issued, showing what was recycled and what went to landfill.

The report includes the date, the partner, items by category and the document received. Present it to the church board and in the bulletin. In photos, show boxes and posters; a Pathfinder's face appears only with permission from their parents or guardians. The hours go into the Club's community service hours record.

🌱How to connect the drive to Pathfinder honors and caring for creation?

In the Recycling and Sustainability Honor (level 1, created by the South American Division in 2012), one requirement asks Pathfinders to research their city's selective waste collection. In the Recycling and Sustainability Honor - Advanced (level 2), the last requirement covers how to dispose of batteries and fluorescent lamps and where the nearest collection point is. The drive helps, but the Instructor is the one who evaluates. Tracking the family's trash is covered in the Ecology Honor guide.

Genesis 2:15 says: "Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it" (NKJV). Keeping it includes deciding where the things we use end up. When it goes into the regular trash, e-waste joins the share of improper handling that, according to the Global E-waste Monitor 2024, releases 58,000 kilograms of mercury into the environment every year worldwide. For other fronts, see how Pathfinders care for the environment.