Critical, Strategic and Deficit Raw Materials in the Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and in Batteries and Accumulators

Abstract

This article presents the waste electrical and electronic equipment and batteries and accumulators as a potential source of critical,strategic and deficit raw materials.The dominant types of waste obtained after the disassembly of used electrical and electronic equipment are plastics: polypropylene(PP), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polystyrene (PS) and teflon and metals. These metals include: magnesium, cobalt,antimony and tantalum (critical raw materials), aluminum, nickel, iron and zinc (strategic raw materials) as well as copper andsilver (deficit resources), as well as lead, tin, gold and cadmium. Batteries and accumulators are a source, among others metalssuch as: nickel and zinc (strategic raw materials), manganese and lithium (deficit resources), aluminum (strategic raw material),and cadmium, lead.The article presents the results of analysis of the material composition of the waste electrical and electronic equipment conducted atthe Institute of Mechanised Construction and Rock Mining. It also presents the level of imports and exports of waste and scrap-metalthat are the subject of this article. In addition, the article presents a source of information about waste and recycled materials.