An analysis of some environmental consequences of European electrical and electronic waste regulation

In recent years, new European Directives have been issued to ensure that Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is treated in as environmentally friendly a way as possible. These new European laws call for the creation of new logistics networks to collect all such waste. The purpose of this paper is to show that, under certain circumstances, the environmental impact of these networks could be even higher than the impact of non-collection. Different appliances were analysed (washing machines, refrigerators, TV sets and personal computers) in order to test this hypothesis. The methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied, highlighting especially the final phase of product life and calculating the threshold beyond which collection is harmful for each type of equipment. The results demonstrate that, depending on the distance travelled to pick up the domestic appliances, recycling is not as environmental friendly as expected, especially when it comes to the impact of fossil fuels or respiratory inorganics (winter smog). This work can be a useful tool for manufacturers (now forced to take back all the equipment after use for subsequent treatment) when designing their new recycling networks from an environmental perspective.