Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Overview

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is end of life electrical and electronic equipment i.e. items that require electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to operate. WEEE was first introduced by the WEEE Directive in 2002 to address the environmental impacts of unwanted electrical and electronic equipment at end-of-life and disposal. WEEE is classed as either household or non-household WEEE. The objective of the Directive and its transposed legislation, the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2007, as amended is to promote recycling and minimise waste by putting the emphasis for end-of-life treatment and recovery on the original producers or distributors of the items.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013 (as amended) is the current underpinning UK legislation ^[1].

The regulations identify 10 broad categories of WEEE, including:

Large household appliances e.g. fridges, cookers, microwaves, washing machines and dishwashers
Small household appliances e.g. vacuum cleaners, irons, toasters and clocks
IT and telecommunications equipment – e.g. personal computers, copying equipment, telephones and pocket calculators
Consumer equipment e.g. radios, televisions, hi-fi equipment, camcorders ad musical instruments
Lighting equipment e.g. straight and compact fluorescent tubes and high intensity discharge lamps
Electrical and electronic tools – e.g. drills, saws and sewing machines, electric lawnmowers
Toys, leisure and sports equipment e.g. electric trains, games consoles and running machines
Medical devices e.g. (non infected) dialysis machines, analysers, medical freezers and cardiology equipment
Monitoring and control equipment e .g. smoke detectors, thermostats and heating regulators
Automatic dispensers e.g. hot drinks dispensers and money dispensers^[2].

Recycling of WEEE is a specialist part of the waste and recycling industry; it is a rapidly growing sub-sector due largely to the implementation of the original WEEE Directive^[2]. ‌

WEEE generally contains a mixed variety of materials, potentially including hazardous ones (e.g. cadmium, arsenic or lead), making it problematic to manage and meaning the treatment methods for WEEE vary massively depending on the technology used and the relevant category^[2].

Macro Tonnage

The most recent information published by DEFRA ^[3] ^[4]is summarized in the pie chart below, with 592,905 tonnes of discarded equipment waste generated in the UK in 2016 (WEEE being part of this category and the broader tonnage summarized in UK Waste Tonnage):

File:Discarded Equipment Pie Chart.png

Discarded Equipment - Tonnage Reported as Generated by DEFRA in 2016

The macro numbers above do not breakdown the component elements of WEEE, but the following WEEE headers in the page are a selection of the above list as captured by local authorities handling WEEE and as reported through WasteDataFlow.