Abstract
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for the study of the potential environmental impacts of a product, process, or service. Here we present a brief introduction to LCA and review 47 publications where this methodology was applied for the evaluation of end-of-life alternatives for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). We have focused particularly on those studies centered on recycling processes. Recycling tends to be considered as environmentally beneficial, as the recovery of valuable materials—namely metals, plastics, and glass—could avoid the extraction and processing of new materials. However, recycling is not always the best alternative on environmental terms. For that reason, when developing a WEEE management strategy, we recommend taking into account a broad array of alternatives, and not only of recycling technologies.
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