Abstract
Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) as a reverse supply chain (RSC) has a low degree of circularity, mainly focusing on recovering or recycling. Targets to increase the circularity have recently been introduced in the EU WEEE directive. In this case study, we have investigated how WEEE is handled within an electric and electronic (EE) equipment manufacturer. The case study includes findings from two different Nordic countries, Norway and Denmark, with interviews of six stakeholders. The case study shows that there are significant differences in how the case company fulfills its extended producer responsibility (EPR), especially related to reporting. The study also found that there is a mismatch between the ambitions in the WEEE directive and a company’s approach related to circularity in the end-of-life phase of an EE product. Based on the results of this case study and from the literature we propose recommendations on alignment with other directives and on a common information regime within the WEEE RSC.
Highlights
The increasing focus on sustainability has led to a move from a linear economy model characterized by a make–use–dispose approach to a circular economy model, in which materials and energy remain in a restorative system [1,2]
Since the case company’s product portfolio only consists of two different waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) product categories, they only divide the volumes into these different WEEE product categories
Various stakeholders within an EE manufacturing company were questioned about how the WEEE directive is treated within the company
Summary
The increasing focus on sustainability has led to a move from a linear economy model characterized by a make–use–dispose approach to a circular economy model, in which materials and energy remain in a restorative system [1,2]. E-waste contains precious and hazardous metals including copper, gold, silver, palladium, cobalt, phosphorous, and platinum, and the amount is increasing, since we use more electronic equipment with short lifetimes [4] Both practitioners and researchers have an increased interest in how to recover these kinds of raw materials from disposal areas through landfill mining [5,6]. Such recovery is costly, and the circularity approach aims to design-out waste where possible, extending product lifetimes by maintenance and reuse, leaving recycling as a last resort. Tinhethfiersttarreggeutlarteioconvwearsy rate and tihnetrroadtuecoefdpirno2d0u0c2ts[2p3r]e, pwairthedafnoerwreuvesresioornrereclyecalsee.dTihne2i0n1c2re[1a3s]e. iUnnttailrg2e01ts5,isthseeedniraesctaivme buisteiodns by the auretchoovreitrieedsatnodinreccryecalseedtthaergleetvs.eFl roofmci2rc0u15laornitwyabrdy,uthseindgirtehcetivWe EinEtrEodleugciesdlatthioenta,ragsetth“ipsrewpaasreodnfeorof the centrarwelh-guaosteaislosprolrafecctehydceilneodtro”ig,thiinneamaldWadrikEteiEot.nEIntdoreetschieegnnrtey[c2eo4av]re.sr,ywtearhgaevt.e
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