Leveraging WEEE deposits could aid future industries

The process of collecting Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is completed through the use of a multitude of streams, which are dedicated to different waste categories. These categories include size, depollution needs and finally specific treatment criteria.

In France, an organisation called ecosystem has been set up and this organisation processes household WEEE through the use of six streams. These are: Cooling and Freezing appliances (C&F), Large Household Appliances excluding refrigeration (LHA), Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) screens (there is a surprising amount still on the market), flat screens, Small mixed Household Appliances (SHA), and lamps. It is a large task to handle each of these streams, as they all require specific logistics, depollution, and treatment, plus it is possible that within the same stream there may be significant disparities between different items.

Ever since ecosystem was first created, the predominant focus of the business has been to understand WEEE and in more recent times, the organisation has also focused on CRM deposits. This involves tasks such as evaluating various types of collected equipment, along with their various compositions and then looking at each components chemical analysis. All of these complications are reasons why ecosystem has now become part of the project which is seeking to identify a European approach and method, which will use the same frame of reference, whilst also sharing its knowledge, especially in sampling and waste composition.

Whilst large changes are being aimed for within the waste systems, there is also a drive towards miniaturisation. Currently, companies are aiming to make their devices smaller and smaller, whilst also adding new functions to them. As the tech industry takes bounds towards completing this goal, questions are being raised around how this will impact the waste systems, as smaller devices are more likely to end up in residual waste bins and are also unlikely to be compatible with existing treatment processes. This means efficient recycling processes could be effected, as could the extraction of critical raw materials.

As the materials which are being placed into the waste stream change and evolve, it is down to organisations such as ecosystem to study these changes and predict what will come to the waste stream next. Through doing this, it will be possible for companies running the waste streams to make the waste stream suitable for future waste and from there they will continue to adapt it. The first step in this process will be to sample, analyse and finally, assess WEEE stocks and material flows.