Joanna Kulczycka
Polish Acadmey of Sciences, Poland
Title: Novel trends in recycling and WEEE management
Biography
Biography: Joanna Kulczycka
Abstract
Within the EU, the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Regulations (WEEE) is intended to reduce the amount of e-waste being disposed of and require EEE producers to pay for its reuse, recycling and recovery. In the EU-28, it is estimated that 25% of the mass of WEEE produced is collected and processed, and the remaining 75% is not recorded. The paper presents new trends in recycling and waste management, including an analysis of the technological, legal, ecological and market aspects, focusing on recovery of non-energy raw materials. WEEE contains many valuable metals, that can be recycled, and could provide a great amount of secondary resources for remanufacture, refurbishment and recycling – some technological case studies will be presented taking into account new trends connected with the development of circular economy strategy - EU Commission has declared that, it will demonstrate the opportunities for moving towards a circular economy under the EU Research and Innovation Programme. The market for the recovery of WEEE is growing steadily, mainly due to the activity of SMEs, however the existing system of waste collection with Extened Producers Responsibility (EPR) based on EU regulation, required some improvments to boost recovery and recycling of valuable materials. Additionaly, main challenge in e-waste management is curbing illegal shipments and making sure that WEEE is collected and properly treated within recycling infrastructure. Other barriers and challenges of the e-waste management system in EU countries will be also identified.