WEEE

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) refers to discarded electrical and electronic devices at the end of their useful life, supplied to households or businesses. The WEEE framework, most prominently the European Union’s WEEE Directive, aims to reduce environmental impact by preventing waste, promoting reuse where possible, and ensuring proper collection, treatment, and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment. It also seeks to recover valuable materials and to limit emissions of hazardous substances.

The directive covers a broad range of equipment including large household appliances, small IT and telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics, lighting equipment, electrical tools, toys and leisure devices, monitoring and control instruments, medical devices, and automatic dispensers. Producers are given extended responsibility to finance take-back schemes and treatment, while consumers are encouraged to return WEEE to designated collection points. Separate collection of WEEE is typically required, and member states implement national programs to meet targets and reporting obligations.

Treatment involves dismantling, sorting, and recovering materials such as metals, plastics, and glass, with careful management of hazardous components like mercury, cadmium, and certain flame retardants. The aim is to maximize material recovery, minimize environmental release, and reduce the demand for virgin resources. WEEE is part of a broader policy framework that includes RoHS restrictions on hazardous substances and is subject to waste shipment controls and enforcement mechanisms at national and EU levels.