WEEE | INNOVATION
Recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment faces many challenges, but
companies and organisations are continuing to seek solutions, writes David Eldridge
WEEE plastics: finding solutions in recycling
The need to recycle waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is greater than ever. The public and political consensus has grown in the past two years that all waste materials should avoid ending up in the environment or in landfill sites, even those from complex and hard-to-recycle electronic products and appliances. At an event in February hosted by the WEEE Forum, it was recognised that European countries are falling far short of the 65% WEEE collection target set out by the EU. Policy- makers, government experts and industry leaders discussed at the event how binding WEEE recycling standards could harmonise the situation in the EU. Increasing the amount of WEEE plastics collec- tion and recycling is an area with some specific challenges. Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) has published a new Technical Plastic Parts Strategy Paper that looks at the issues facing recycling of WEEE plastics and end-of-life vehicles (ELV) plastics. In the electrical and electronic (E&E) sector, the most commonly used polymers are PS, ABS, PP, PC,
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
PA and PBT. The paper makes recommendations that would encourage growth in collection, recy- cling and re-use of engineering plastics. PRE said that in 2020, the EU will generate an additional 46% of plastic waste coming from the E&E sector in comparison to 2000. “Recycling rates remain low, even though facilities and technologies to treat them do exist and are operational on an industrial scale. To give an example, only 300,000 tonnes of WEEE was destined for recycling at specialised European facilities in 2017, whereas the recycling capacity needed amounts to around 3 million tonnes,” it said. Antonino Furfari, Managing Director of PRE,
said: “Today we need to reach for the untapped material which is not fully exploited yet. This will require extra effort to guarantee the conditions necessary for the recyclers of technical plastic to boost further investment with the goal of trans- forming this material into a high-quality product.” In order to boost recycling of technical plastic
March/April 2019 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 41
Main image: Post-consumer e-waste can comprise a mix of products
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
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