Brought to you by Borut Bernat from EKOSIJ 

Aiming to educate the Slovenian population about hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), the negative environmental impacts of improper disposal and the benefits of recycling, ZEOS (and EKOSIJ)* are raising awareness to create a more informed and responsible society. 

*EKOSIJ is a member of ZEOS, the biggest extended producer responsibility organisation in Slovenia. 

What is an E-Transformer?

ZEOS’ travelling classroom, the so-called E-transformer 2.0, intents to show the importance of the different elements contributing to the circular economy in practice. Our E-transformer is a trailer equipped with a screen, a small exhibition of different electric appliances and different learning aids. 

Once comfortable seated, visitors can watch a short, animated video about the circular economy and sustainable practices as well as “visit” the museum of appliances of our recent and distant past. They can try out old (30- to 60-year-old) appliances in practice, ones that almost seem archaic to teenagers today, play retro computer games from the last century and participate in short interactive workshops with important information on why and how to extend the life of electric and electronic appliances. At certain stops of our awareness raising tour, visitors can even repair their small appliances in need minor repairs. 

The Aim of Our Awareness Raising Tour

During our awareness raising tour across the country, our expert team visits educational institutions (focussing on ages 6-14) and participates to various local and regional traditional events. The main actors of E-transformer 2.0 are our facilitators, educating the visitors and giving recommendations on how to extend the life of appliances. 

The entire program of our travelling classroom is tailor made for school children. They are presented with interesting facts and exercises such guessing the weight of a magnet located in a wind turbine while encouraged to partake in interactive workshops. 

In each local area, we equally point out our collection points where students can drop off unused but working devices as well as e-waste once the event is over. Counting on their motivation, they might also leave any of those devices at the trailer, and even have a try at repairing them before hand-over to our team. This small exercise instantly uplifts the mood of our young visitors, and they contribute to  

Our E-Transformer has the potential to easily reach hundreds of students at the time and raise awareness on not only proper e-waste management practices but on the circularity of digital health devices. We are looking forward to putting our learnings from DiCE in practice and discuss ideas with the younger generation on how to build a more sustainable future.