Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Handbook

Vannessa Goodship, Ab Stevels, Jaco Huisman

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2019
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9780081021590
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Handbook, Second Edition, is a one-stop reference on current electronic waste legislation initiatives, their impact, and the latest technological considerations for reducing electronic waste (e-waste) and increasing the efficiency of materials recovery. It also provides a wide-range of global and corporate examples and perspectives on the challenges that face specific regions and companies, along with the solutions they are implementing in managing e-waste, offering further insights on how discarded products can be treated. Sections introduce the reader to legislation and initiatives to manage WEEE and discuss technologies for the refurbishment, treatment and recycling of waste electronics. Further sections focus on electronic products that present particular challenges for recyclers, explore sustainable design of electronics and supply chains, discuss national and regional WEEE management schemes, and more. - Addresses the latest challenges and opportunities for electronic waste (e-waste) management, including e-waste collection models, circular economy implications, rare earth metal recovery, and much more - Draws lessons for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) policy and practice from around the world - Discusses legislation and initiatives to manage WEEE, including global e-waste initiatives, EU legislation relating to electronic waste, and eco-efficiency evaluation of WEEE take-back systems

Chapter 1

E-waste seen from a global perspective

Ruediger Kuehr United Nations University, Sustainable Cycles Programme, (UNU – ViE – SCYCLE), Bonn, Germany

Abstract

This chapter analyzes how much the e-waste problem is hindering the realization of sustainable societies and is therefore addressed by the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. It looks at the progress of ongoing and already completed initiatives such as Solving the E-waste Problem, Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment, further work by the UN as it attempts to harmonize its e-waste work, and other umbrellas such as the European Union, and it looks at how well these initiatives have addressed the e-waste problem and its multiple dimensions. Addressing the problem is also a way to describe the way ahead toward reaching a vision for handling the e-waste problem.

Keywords

Basel convention; E-waste; ITU; Local; PACE; Statistics; StEP; Transnational; UNEP; UNU

1. 1.1 Introduction
2. 1.2 Problems associated with e-waste
   1. 1.2.1 Local
   2. 1.2.2 Global
3. 1.3 Global e-waste management initiatives
   1. 1.3.1 United Nations Environment Programme
      1. Basel Convention
      2. Strategic approach to international chemicals management
      3. International Environmental Technology Centre
      4. Environmental Management Group
   2. 1.3.2 Solving the e-waste problem initiative
   3. 1.3.3 Global e-waste statistic partnership
   4. 1.3.4 International Telecommunication Union
4. 1.4 Synergizing e-waste initiatives
5. 1.5 Future trends
6. References

1.1. Introduction

According to the Global E-waste Monitor 2017, the world generated 44.7 million metric tons (MTs) of e-waste in 2016, and only 20% was recycled through appropriate channels (Baldé et al., 2017). Although 66% of the world's population is covered by e-waste legislation, more efforts must be made to enforce, implement, and encourage more countries to develop e-waste policies.

This development is fueled by a global information society growing at great speed. More and faster networks, and new applications and services delivered at increasingly higher speeds, have brought new opportunities to many people, including in the areas of health, education, government, entertainment, and commerce. At the same time, higher levels of disposable income, urbanization, and industrialization in several developing countries have led to growing amounts of electrical and electronic equipment, and consequently e-waste.

Production, consumption, and final disposal of electrical and electronic equipment without wastes and harmful emissions; virtually no idea is more convincing and challenging. Though this may appear to be a crazy dream or simply impossible considering the current situation, it could be the visionary statement for many initiatives working toward a sustainable solution to the e-waste problem. It would take the final decoupling of the world's energy demand from nonregenerative and uncontrollable sources that take remaining wastes for granted. It would also be based on a closed system for supply and its reverse, not allowing the loss and leakage of resources. The digital divide would be successfully closed, allowing everybody to benefit from speedy innovations in technology that make our lives and work easier, healthier, and more enjoyable, without revoking the future of coming generations.

Harsh critics of such a vision have become more careful as some governments and international organizations, together with industry, science sectors, nongovernmental organizations, and local governments, have strongly supported the development of concepts for sustainable societies and have substantially invested in pertinent research that will explore if and how zero emissions/waste could become a new standard and a model for a sustainable society (Adams and Jeanrenaud, 2008). In 2015, the countries making up the United Nations (UN) adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. And though Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 12, “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns,” and 11, “Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable,” only call for reducing the adverse environmental impacts of cities and communities by 2030 and substantially reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse by the same year, they mark a milestone in global perspectives on e-waste because it is also clearly referred to as an emerging challenge.

What challenges come with the e-waste problem and how would realizing the above-described vision solve them? Why is the e-waste problem increasingly attracting interest from politicians and the media as well as leading to initiatives around the globe? How much do existing initiatives address the e-waste problem and its multiple dimensions? What is the forecast for the way to move forward toward achieving the SDGs and the vision?

1.2. Problems associated with e-waste

For at least the past 10 years, e-waste has become a catchword covering almost all types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) that has or could enter the waste stream. E-waste has been growing exponentially because the markets for EEE are booming, not only because increasingly more products require electricity—even clothing comes more frequently with electronic gadgets such as a pulse monitor—but also due to a growing middle class in many countries around the world. Therefore, many parts of the world are developing quickly and consequently are crossing the so-called “digital divide.” Rapid product innovation and replacement, especially in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and office equipment, such as replacements caused by frequent upgrading to the latest smartphone, are fueling the increase. Economies of scale have led to lower prices for many electrical goods, which has increased the global demand for many products that eventually end up as e-waste.

Generally, e-waste is a term covering all end-of-life (EoL) products that use either a battery or a cord/circuitry. Hence, it includes TVs, computers, mobile phones, white goods (refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, etc.), home entertainment and stereo systems, toys, toasters, kettles—almost any household or business item, including medical devices such as magnetic resonance tomography scanners. A snapshot from the knowledge management tool C2P illustrates that thousands of definitions of e-waste in policies, regulations, decrees, guidelines, guidance documents, etc. still exist (Compliance and Risks, 2017). Based on these numerous definitions, the number of types of e-waste included in government-initiated analyses and collection programs differs across the world. The United States, for example, does not include white goods in its e-waste statistics, whereas these goods are included in the 10 e-waste categories in the legislation of the European Union (EU) and Japan. As a consequence, e-waste levels nationally cannot be easily compared, and accumulating all the numbers does not necessarily reflect the actual global e-waste amount.

In an attempt to harmonize e-waste statistics, members of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, such as OECD, ESCAPT, Eurostat, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the United Nations University (UNU), agreed in 2015 on a joint e-waste definition and methodology for its elicitation (Balde et al., 2015). Following the definition from the Solving the E-waste Problem Initiative (StEP), the partnership suggests a definition of e-waste:

E-waste is a term used to cover items of all types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and its parts that have been discarded by the owner as waste without the intention of re-use (Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP), 2014).

Categorizing certain electrical and electronic equipment as “reusable” is a loophole used in international shipments to make money from what often should be formally classified as “e-waste”—a clear break of the Basel Convention, which controls the transboundary movements of hazardous wastes including e-wastes and their final disposal (Basel). The Countering WEEE Illegal Trade project found that of the 9.4 MTs of e-waste generated in 2012 in the EU, 1.3 million MTs have been illegally exported (Huisman et al., 2015). In addition, substantial amounts of EoL EEE is kept in closets, cellars, and lofts and not entering the recycling chain. Moreover, substantial amounts are recycled outside of official take-back systems. For these reasons, a large quantity of the planet's e-waste is unaccounted for, as it is not entering the appropriate e-waste recycling processes.

Hence, a widely agreed-upon approach to estimate national and global e-waste generation is based on EEE put on the market. The lifetimes of product categories, in addition to other determinates, help in deriving total e-waste generation (Oguchi et al.). Together, all the world's countries generated a staggering 49 million MTs or the equivalent of 6.7 kg per inhabitant (kg/inh) of e-waste annually in 2016, compared with 6.4 kg/inh generated in 2014. This is almost as much weight as 6700 Eiffel Towers each year. Based on current growth rates, worldwide e-waste generation is expected to increase to 55 million MTs, or 7.1 kg/inh, by 2021 (Baldé et al., 2017).

E-waste is usually regarded as a waste problem that can cause environmental and health damage if not dealt with in an appropriate way (Schluep et al., 2009). The production of EEE is very resource-intensive. Therefore, e-waste contains various materials that are hazardous, valuable, and scarce. Common hazardous materials are heavy metals such as mercury, lead, chromium, and cadmium, and chemicals including ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons, phosphors, hexavalent chromium, polychlorinated biphenyl, and various flame retardants. All these can potentially lead to such things as ...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Preface
• Chapter 1. E-waste seen from a global perspective
• Chapter 2. The e-waste development cycle – part I, introduction and country status
• Chapter 3. The e-waste development cycle, part II—impact assessment of collection and treatment
• Chapter 4. The e-waste development cycle, part III—policy & legislation, business & finance, and technologies & skills
• Chapter 5. Implementation road map and conditions for success
• Chapter 6. The WEEE forum and the WEEE label of excellence project
• Chapter 7. Reduction of hazardous materials in electrical and electronic equipment
• Chapter 8. The materials of waste electrical and electronic equipment
• Chapter 9. Refurbishment and reuse of waste electrical and electronic equipment
• Chapter 10. Mechanical methods of recycling plastics from WEEE
• Chapter 11. Recycling printed circuit boards
• Chapter 12. Recycling liquid crystal displays
• Chapter 13. Recycling cooling and freezing appliances
• Chapter 14. Recycling batteries
• Chapter 15. Rare earth metal recovery from typical e-waste
• Chapter 16. ErP – the European directive on ecodesign
• Chapter 17. Sustainable electronic product design
• Chapter 18. Waste electrical and electronic equipment management in Europe: Learning from best practices in Switzerland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark
• Chapter 19. WEEE management in China
• Chapter 20. E-waste management in India
• Chapter 21. WEEE management in Japan
• Chapter 22. HP's WEEE management strategy
• Chapter 23. Siemens' WEEE management strategy
• Chapter 24. The history of the take-back and treatment of consumer waste electrical and electronic equipment at Philips
• Chapter 25. Creating a corporate environmental strategy including waste electrical and electronic equipment take-back and treatment
• Index