INNOVATION | WEEE RECYCLING
Above: The Circular Electronics Partnership has devised a roadmap with ambitious goals
the take-back concept to commercial products, along with other measures. BVSE says that it has asked that recycling companies that are certified as initial treatment systems should also help with the collection of old devices from private households. The organisation said that in addition to increasing collection rates, the collection system needs to be improved so that the devices arrive undamaged at recycling facilities. The WEEE Forum says very few EU member countries are able to meet collection goals and it called on the EU in September to overhaul its WEEE policy approach. The organisation, which represents Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs), says it has developed “a new vision” to replace the current system of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) which it claims is “not fit for purpose”. In its four-step plan, the WEEE Forum recom- mends an “All Actors Approach” policy model whereby all private and public entities that have access to WEEE have legal obligations which competent authorities must enforce. “This ap- proach will result in more fairness and inclusivity in the market as well as enhanced monitoring based on sustained co-operation,” it says. Another step is that PROs are required only to collect the WEEE to which they have access via collection facilities and take-back schemes, and should not be responsible for that which is out of their reach, for example treated as metal scrap. In order to improve collections rates, WEEE Forum suggests measures that authorities should imple- ment including setting up a co-ordination body, improving the collection network and the better monitoring of WEEE flows. Its final step is a revision of the calculation method for setting the targets for the quantity of WEEE to be collected in each member state, based either on the amount of equipment placed on the market or on the amount of WEEE generated previously. Global electronics manufacturers have come
22 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | July/August 2021
together in the Circular Electronics Partnership (CEP) whose aim is to drive a transition to a sustainable and economically viable circular electronics industry. Its Vision document says this will be achieved by leveraging: circular design principles; material, product or component loops; data-driven systems; responsible business models; and advanced partnerships. It has devised a roadmap to show how its goals could be reached by 2030. The roadmap contains pathways with ambitious aims to increase WEEE collection rates, scale secondary materials markets, create reverse supply chains, and other goals. “By 2030, a global system for takeback will maximise responsible repurposing of purchased electrical and electronic equipment,” says CEP. “Transboundary EPR schemes and the conver- gence of different schemes will have contributed to breaking down silos. Take-back will be valued by producers and trusted by all consumers to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits.” It continues: “By 2030, the electronics recycling industry will take full advantage of materials through high-quality processing, full traceability and replacement of virgin materials, ensuring adequate socioeconomic conditions of all partici- pants in the value chain.” The improvements needed in the WEEE
recycling sector may be sizeable, but established WEEE recyclers are not daunted and continue to invest in new and expanded facilities. Remondis is building a new facility at its Lippe plant in Lünen, Germany that is dedicated to dismantling fridges and freezers. The existing dismantling centre in Lünen began operations in 2006, and Remondis reports in its company magazine the centre’s technology “is no longer up-to-date and is being stretched to its limits”. The facility is expected to be commissioned during the third quarter of 2021. A WEEE plastics processing plant was built next
to the existing dismantling centre in Lünen in 2019 to reduce transportation and enable Remondis to make the most of the plastic recovered from cooling appliances. The company says: “With a capacity of ca. 20,000 tonnes a year, the new fridge/freezer recycling plant in Lünen will be the most modern of its kind in Europe and will achieve excellent recovery and recycling rates.” The new dismantling facility will feature a special
matrix to degas the appliances using mixing units. This technology has already been installed at Remondis’ dismantling centre in Troyes, France, helping achieve high volumes of recovered materials. Coolrec has made investments in separation
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
IMAGE: CEP
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