What are dealing with?

Many everyday consumer items now contain electronic parts. Every year an estimated 1 million tonnes of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) are discarded by householders and commercial groups in the UK. Dealing with this waste is an important issue as electronic goods are becoming increasingly short lived, and so ever increasing quantities of obsolete and broken equipment are thrown away. Electronic and electrical equipment makes up on average 4% of European municipal waste, and is growing three times faster than any other municipal waste stream.

Electrical waste includes digital watches, fridges, TVs, computers and toys. Not only is this waste stream disparate in function but in addition the materials of which they are comprised vary considerably. For example an average TV contains 6% metal and 50% glass whereas a cooker is 89% metal and only 6% glass. Other materials used include plastics, ceramics and precious metals. The complex array of product types and materials make waste electrical and electronic equipment difficult to manage.

The main component of waste electronic equipment is large household appliances known as white goods, which make up 43% of the total. The next largest component is IT equipment which accounts for 39%. Much of this is made up of computers, which rapidly become obsolete. Televisions also represent a large proportion, with an estimated 2 million TV sets being discarded each year.

Why should we recycle Electrical appliances?

When obsolete materials are not recycled, raw materials have to be processed to make new products. This represents a significant loss of resources as the energy, transport and environmental damage caused by these processes is large.

Another major problem is the toxic nature of many of the substances, including arsenic, bromine, cadmium, halogenated flame retardant, hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), lead, mercury and PCBs.

The estimated number of fridges and freezers being disposed in the UK is 3 million units annually. These units contain gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) used for the coolant and insulation. Both CFCs and HCFCs are greenhouse gases which when emitted into the atmosphere, contribute to climate change.

Fluorescent lighting contains potentially harmful substances such as highly toxic heavy metals, in particular mercury, cadmium and lead. If they enter the body, these substances can cause damage to the liver, kidneys and the brain. Mercury is also a neurotoxin and has the potential to build up in the food chain. The mercury content is the main concern with fluorescent lighting. A four-foot long fluorescent tube may contain over 30 milligrams of mercury. The EC permissible limit for mercury in drinking water is 1 part per billion, equivalent to 0.001mg a litre.

According to a survey by consultancy ERA Technology, electrical equipment manufacturers are reacting "very slowly" to a legal requirement to remove lead from their products by July 2006, almost 2/3 of companies have no planned date for completing the switch to lead-free technologies.

Since 1996 the market for refurbished computers has increased by 500%, but still less than 20% of all discarded UK computers are recycled. There are commercial organisations that buy and sell business computer systems, either as complete systems, or for refurbishment, or as spares for maintenance purposes. Hewlett Packard offers a take-back service for any make of computer for companies. The type and cost of the service depends on the quantity, type of products returned and the location from where they are picked up. The cost is covered by the customer.

Finding suitable landfill sites is also becoming an increasing problem, particularly in the South East, where large quantities of electronic waste arise. New rules in force from July 2004 call for the cessation of co-disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. In the South and South East of England there are currently no landfill sites able to accept hazardous waste.

How are Electrical appliances recycled?

For large household white goods, such as fridges and cookers, recycling infrastructure is strong. However, for smaller more complicated equipment, the development of new infrastructure and technology has become necessary. There are four broad methods employed by industry to recycle

equipment dismantling - the manual separation of reusable and recyclable components

mechanical recycling - the removal of hazardous components followed by granulating and shredding, in order to remove the recyclable raw materials such as plastic and ferrous metal

incineration and refining - metal can be recovered after the more combustible material has been incinerated

chemical recycling - precious metals such as gold and silver can be removed from printed circuit boards and components via chemical processes

Some 100 million lighting tubes (about 20,000 tonnes) and 100,000 tonnes of CRT glass are scrapped each year in the UK. Currently these are usually shredded and dumped in landfill sites.

The number of fluorescent tube recyclers in the UK is slowly growing. Mercury Recycling Ltd, based in Manchester, and Lampcare (UK) Recycling Ltd, based in Glasgow, are two companies in the UK with the technology to recycle fluorescent tubes, and are currently taking spent tubes supplied by waste management companies. Sustainalite, part of the Lighting Industry Federation Ltd, aims to promote best practice in the management and resource use of end-of-life gas discharge light sources and to establish and manage an accreditation scheme for those who manage end-of-life gas discharge light sources.

A number of fridge recyclers now operate in the UK to dispose safely of fridges that can no longer be used. Two and a half million domestic and about 500,000 commercial fridges are replaced in the UK every year. Studies have found the average lifespan of a fridge to be 11 years. There are over 300 furniture recycling projects across the UK. Furniture projects often need working cookers and fridges, as well as other household items such as vacuum cleaners, to pass on to low-income families for reuse. SOFA, a furniture and electrical appliance reuse charity based in Bristol, helps over 5,000 low-income households a year.

How you can help

If the electrical equipment is still in full working order, sell it in a car boot sale or donate it to a charity shop.

Contact your retailer as they may take back old products.

Some councils accept electrical equipment at their waste recycling centres.

Always try to repair items rather than throwing them away, others may find a use for the item when you no longer want it.

Try to buy electrical items that have a long life span.