EWW Conference Agenda

This study, carried out by RDC Environment for Recupel, examines what happens to laptops, mobile phones and tablets (LMT) once Belgian households and businesses are done with them - and where the system falls short.

The first part maps device flows from first sale through storage, collection, refurbishment and recycling, putting numbers on how much ends up in each channel and how much simply sits in drawers.

The second part diagnoses the barriers: households hold onto unused devices for around five years on average; collection involves so many intermediaries that traceability breaks down; and the economics of domestic refurbishment are squeezed by a competitive international second-hand market.

The final part sets out concrete recommendations - including separate LMT reporting obligations for producers, stronger controls on collection and reuse actors, financial incentives for device return at point of purchase, and targeted partnerships between Recupel and accredited refurbishers - to raise collection and reuse rates and bring Belgium's LMT flows closer to a genuinely circular model.