Abstract
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is known as an important source of secondary raw materials. Since decades, its treatment allowed to recover great amounts of basic resources. However, the management of electronic components embedded in WEEE still presents many challenges. The purpose of the paper is to cope with some of these challenges through the definition of an economic model able to identify the presence of profitability within the recovery process of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs). To this aim, a set of common economic indexes is used within the paper. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis on a set of critical variables is conducted to evaluate their impact on the results. Finally, the combination of predicted WEEE volumes (collected during the 2015–2030 period) in three European countries (Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) and related economic indexes quantify the potential advantage coming from the recovery of this kind of waste in the next future.
Highlights
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is one of the most important sources of complex waste [1]
The management of electronic components embedded in WEEE still presents many challenges
The purpose of the paper is to cope with some of these challenges through the definition of an economic model able to identify the presence of profitability within the recovery process of waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs)
Summary
WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) is one of the most important sources of complex waste [1]. Basic guidelines for the reuse, recovery and recycling of WEEE have been already established and many authors analysed and compared different WEEE directives and national recovery systems [10,11,12] Their aim was the assessment of the presence of basic principles able to support the development of a circular economy based on the exploitation of both critical materials and resources recovered from WEEE. From this side, the European Commission played (and continue to play) a key role in financing several dedicated projects (e.g., Innovative hydrometallurgical processes to recover metals from WEEE including lamps and batteries (HydroWEEE), Countering WEEE Illegal Trade (CWIT), Prospecting Secondary raw materials from the Urban Mine and Mining waste (ProSUM) and Critical Raw Material Closed Loop Recovery (CRM Recovery))
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