Modelling the levels of historic waste electrical and electronic equipment in Ireland

Abstract

The implementation of the WEEE Directive in Ireland introduced a formal system for the return & environmentally sound management of WEEE. Visible fees were introduced to cover the cost of the environmentally sound management of “historic WEEE”. However, very little was known about the levels of historic WEEE that would arise, which created uncertainty with regard to funding the management of this historic WEEE.This research employed novel modelling techniques in order to determine existing WEEE levels and predict the percentages of historic WEEE in Ireland. The research focused on “cold”, “large domestic appliances” and television WEEE and calculates Irish historic WEEE levels using data from disparate sources. The model determines EEE sales, total WEEE figures and the ratio of historic to non-historic WEEE for years 2000–2020.The research findings indicate that historic WEEE comprises well over 50% of all material returning through official WEEE take-back channels in Ireland in 2015. Model predictions range from 2015 figures showing 69% cold WEEE will be historic in nature, 59% of large domestic WEEE will historic and 77% of all television WEEE will be historic. For 2020, these figures will reduce to 45% historic WEEE for the cold category, 38% historic WEEE for large domestic appliances and 54% historic WEEE for televisions.These model results were validated using a statistically significant sampling of WEEE in Ireland over the course of 1 year. Cold, domestic appliance and television WEEE were sampled in order to determine the actual ratio of historic versus non-historic WEEE.