Comparative Analysis of Three WEEE Management Scenarios Based on LCA Methodology: Case Study in the Municipality of Iasi, Romania

Abstract

The increasing consumption of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), correlated with the fast innovation pace in this field, generates a large amount of annual waste. The current established management practices cannot keep up with it, and the results are of increased significance given the negative effects on the environment and human health. Thus, the current study aimed to analyze the environmental impact of three different scenarios of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management, following population awareness campaigns regarding its collection in the Municipality of Iasi, Romania. Data processing was carried out considering Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology with the established functional unit for each scenario according to the collected amount. The results were quantified using the CML2001 and ReCiPe methods and showed that the highest environmental impact was obtained for scenario II (S2) (1.59 × 10−7 pers. equiv. using the CML2001 method and 32.7 pers. equiv. using the ReCiPe method), while the lowest for scenario I (S1) (6.42 × 10−8 pers. equiv. using the CML2001 method and 13.8 pers. equiv. using the ReCiPe method). The process with the highest contribution to the total environmental impact was the collection stage for all scenarios, with the exception of scenario S2, in which case the highest value was generated for the landfill process following the application of the ReCiPe method (39.93%). The current study provides value to a critical issue in the environmental area and supports the development of sustainable WEEE management processes.