Waste electronic and electrical equipment

Directive 2002/96/EC ofthe European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (2003) Official Journal ofthe European Union, L37 13/02/2003, 24-39. 

The second possibility is the European waste legislation, which includes the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS). The RoHS Directive is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) which sets collection, recycling, and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of toxic e-waste. 

EU s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive and RoHS. 267... 

Manomaivibool P (2009) Extended producer responsibility in a non-OECD context the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment in India. Resour Conserv Recycl 53(3) 136-144... 

Keywords Brominated flame retardants, E-waste, Substance Flow Analysis SFA, Informal Recycling, Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment WEEE... 

Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and 69 ratified the ban on all kinds of hazardous waste export from wealthy OECD-countries to non-OECD countries, large amounts of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) are shipped overseas for recycling, the majority to China as reported by Brigden et al. [2] and Puckett et al. [3], lesser quantities to India and Western Africa reported by Kuper and Hojsik [4]. WEEE contains a variety of harmful substances like endocrine disruptors and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Additionally, hazardous substances may be formed during informal recycling. This often practised informal treatment without proper equipment for metal extraction and labour safety heavily affects the environment and human health of workers and the inhabitants of whole stretches of land. 

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) legislation, 20 60 Waste exchanges, 21 407 Waste facilities, design of, 21 842 Waste fuel... 

The introduction of EU directives on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Reduction of Hazardous Substances has highlighted the need for precise and repeatable elemental analysis of heavy metals in the plastics production process. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy has emerged as the most economical and effective analytical tool for achieving this. A set of certified standards, known as TOXEL, is now available to facilitate XRF analyses in PE. Calibration with TOXEL standards is simplified by the fact that XRF is a multi-element technique. Therefore a single set of the new standards can be used to calibrate several heavy elements, covering concentrations from trace level to several hundred ppm. This case study is the analysis of heavy metals in PE using an Epsilon 5 XRF spectrometer. 

The move by the European Commission to make three separate pieces of legislation out of an original single draft directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment has probably served to intensify the focus onbrominated flame retardants in these applications. Under the draft, EU countries shall ensure that the use of lead, mercury,... 

The German Environmental Ministry is reported to have attacked European proposals to ban substances such as specific flame retardants in forthcoming regulations for recycling electrical and electronic equipment. Initial proposals from the EU Commission on the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment, include a phaseout of PBDEs, despite preliminary findings under EU risk assessment that there is no need for risk reduction from the two types, decaBDE and octaBDE mainly used in such equipment. The Ministry is said to be concerned at the excessively prescriptive and restrictive system being proposed, and that substance restrictions should not be addressed in waste legislation, but should be based on life cycle risk assessments. 

Proposals to ban two types of brominated flame retardants in electrical and electronic goods are raising controversy in Bmssels. The EU DG XI (Environment) is circulating a draft proposed directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment under which polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers would be banned by 1 January 2004. The proposal is circulating despite risk assessments which show that there is no particular cause for concern and no need for further risk assessment. 

European Parliament and Council in their Proposal for a Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (COM/2000/0347 final), See http // europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga doc sma rtapi celexplus prod CELEXnumdoc lg= en numdoc=52000PC0347(01)... 

R. Balart, L. Sanchez, J. L6pez, and A. Jimenez, Kinetic analysis of thermal degradation of recycled polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadi-ene-styrene mixtures from waste electric and electronic equipment,... 

P.A. Tarantili, A.N. Mitsakaki, and M.A. Petoussi, Processing and properties of engineering plastics recycled from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), Polym. Degrad. Stab., In Press, Accepted Manuscript, 2010. 

The environmental impact of waste disposal and of chemical use in Europe has led to three legislative actions that, in today s global economy, greatly affect flame-retardant use and research. These actions go by the acronyms of RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances), WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), and REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemical substances). These actions are discussed in detail in Chapter 22, but need to be mentioned here as they are clear examples of how changing regulations affect flame-retardant use, selection, and new fire-safety developments. The first one, RoHS, refers to how new items are manufactured, and specifically bans chemicals and elements of environmental and toxicological concern in Europe. One fall-out item of RoHS is the move from a lead-based solder on circuit... 

Morf, L. S., Tremp, J., et al. (2005) Brominated flame retardants in waste electrical and electronic equipment substance flows in a recycling plant. Environmental Science and Technology, 39(22) 8691-8699. 

Schlummer, M., Maurer, A., et al (2006) Report recycling of flame-retarded plastics from waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). Waste Management and Research, 24(6) 573-583. 

Today important flows of plastics originate in mandatory recycling schemes, such as those imposed by take-back obligations on packaging, End-of life vehicles, or waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE). For such materials, the drive for collection and recycling is not normally economic, but mandatory. In snch cases, there is often a dump fee, to be paid for farther processing a stream of waste plastics into recycled products. The value of such fees varies from some 50 /tonne for injection into blast fnmaces in the European Community to as much as 50-100 kYen ( 370-750 /tonne)... 

Also in February 2003, the European Union enacted the Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (known as the WEEE Directive), calling for manufacturers to take end-of-life responsibility for their products (European Parliament, 2003b). Until August 15, 2005, this directive applies the principle of collective producer responsibility to wastes generated by electrical and electronic products. This principle allows companies to pool monies used for managing their wastes. However, for wastes generated by products manufactured after that date, it applies the principle of individual manufacturer responsibility, with the result... 

Leaching and electrolysis processes can be used for metal recovery from waste electrical and electronic equipment. Metals such as Ag, Au, Cu, Pb, Pd, Sn, are dissolved from shredded electronic scrap in an acidic aqueous chloride electrolyte by oxidizing them with aqueous dissolved chlorine species. In the electrochemical reactor, chlorine is generated at the anode for use as the oxidant in the leach reactor and the dissolved metals are deposited from the leach solution at the cathode. The very low concentrations of the precious metal ions require the use of porous electrodes with high specific surface areas and high mass transport rates to achieve economically adequate reactor productivities and space-time yields [72]. 

Other items such as medical devices and meters that use plastic parts are exempt from the RoHS requirement until such time as the EU sees fit to come up with specifications before including them. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) are defined as those requiring electricity or electromagnetic fields to operate them and most of the modern equipment contains plastics to some extent. 

The analysis of plastics for hazardous metals e.g. Cd, Pb, Cr(total) and Hg is now essential on all products including plastics used in electric and electronic equipment sold within the European states. Directives for these products have been issued under Packaging Directive , End of Life Vehicle (ELV), Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and have been introduced to control the risk to health and waste disposal in the environment. The listed metals have been used extensively in the past as pigments, stabilisers and catalysts, especially PVC, and these toxic elements can be released over time into the environment. Therefore, polymer producers are advised that future products be lower than EU values or free of these metals. 

It is interesting to note that even in a country without tradition for the collection of spent batteries (all types) and of waste electrical and electronic equipment, the collection mode represents one of the three major ways for discarding used equipment. (N.B. In France the official SCRELEC campaign did only start one year before the hoarding study was performed). When this survey was performed, the existence of this national collection program had not yet reached a high level of knowledge by the consumer. 

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