Mining causes major damage to nature and environment and is partly superfluous if more metals would be reused. Besides that, responsible process of electronics prevents pollution in and around dumping-sites in Africa and Asia. These are the results of a new study by Eerlijke Verzekeringswijzer.
Mining causes major damage to nature and environment and is partly superfluous if more metals would be reused. Besides that, responsible process of electronics prevents pollution in and around dumping-sites in Africa and Asia. These are the results of a new study by Eerlijke Verzekeringswijzer.
According to the new case study Electronics, Mining and Urban Mining by the Eerlijke Verzekeringswijzer (Fair Insuranceguide), insurance groups still invest more than 69 times more in mining than in the recycling of metals and electronics. Because of the lack of guiding government policies and sufficient investments, the recycling sector is developing very slowly. As a result, a lot of electronics end up as junk in Africa and China.
Financial institutions
It turns out that both Aegon as Legal & General rarely invest in the recycling of metals. This is unlike ASR and Achmea, who are active in this sector. It even seems that ASR invests more in recycling than in mining. Also, the study shows that ASR and Achmea encourage reuse and ‘circular enterprise’ to their commercial customers. ING (NN Group) does too, but still invests 279 times more in mining than in recycling. APG (Loyalis), Allianz, Generali and Legal & General didn’t provide any information for the research; these financial institutions therefore are assessed on the basis of information from public sources.
On account of this study, Aegon and SNS Reaal have pledged to invest more in recycling plants and to improve the efficient use of raw materials. Also, ASR wants to investigate if there is room for improvement when it comes to investments in circular economy. Read the press report or Dutch summary here.
Seminar
As a follow up we invite you for a seminar we organise together with Circle Economy, VBDO en SOMO/GoodElectronics. Please save the date: March 5th, afternoon in Utrecht or Amsterdam.
During the seminar, Circle Economy will present the tool they developed to assess in which extent a company is operating in a circular way. We invite you to reflect on the tool, to discuss the Case Study and to learn from each other’s experiences in investing in and supporting circular economy. We are looking forward to an inspiring afternoon. Please let us know if you and/or your colleagues will be present.
