The management of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the European Union

Worldwide, WEEE constitutes one of the fastest growing waste fractions generated, accounting for 8% of all municipal waste. This trend increases the environmental burdens consequently action on WEEE is an urgent need in nowadays. The paper outline the current status of the management of the WEEE across the European Union.waste from electrical and electronic equipment, WEEE Directive, the responsibility principle

Analysis of products from the pyrolysis of plastics recovered from the commercial scale recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment

Three plastic fractions from a commercial waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) processing plant were collected and investigated for the possibility of recycling them by batch pyrolysis. The first plastic was from equipment containing cathode ray tubes (CRTs), the second plastic was from refrigeration equipment, and the third plastic was from mixed WEEE. Initially, the decomposition of each of the plastics was investigated using a TGA linked to a FT-ir spectrometer which showed that the CRT plastic decomposed to form aliphatic and aromatic compounds, the refrigerator plastic decomposed to form aldehydes, CO2, aromatic, and aliphatic compounds, and the mixed WEEE plastic decomposed to form aromatic and aliphatic compounds, CO2, and CO. Each plastic mixture was also pyrolysed in a batch reactor to determine the halogen and metal content of the pyrolysis products, additionally, characterisation of the pyrolysis oils was carried out by GC-MS and the pyrolysis gases by GC-FID and GC-TCD. It was found that the halogen content of the oils was relatively low but the halogen and metal content of the chars was high. The pyrolysis oils were found to contain valuable chemical products and the pyrolysis gases were mainly halogen free, making them suitable as a fuel

Стійка технологія переробки відходів електричного та електронного обладнання

Об’єкт досліджень: технологічні основи «переробки відходів електричного та електронного обладнання». Предмет досліджень: механізм піролізу, отримання рідкого палива, подрібнення друкованих плат після піролізу, вібраційний млин та його сили, які впливають на подрібнення. Вихідні дані для проведення роботи: характеристики друкованих плат та їх переробка у світі. Наукова новизна: відокремлення металевої фракції від наповнювачів, за рахунок ковкості металевої фракції при подрібнені та подальшому розділення при грохочені. Практична цінність: поліпшення екологічної складової за рахунок втілення нових технологій в сектор управління відходів та рециклінгу вже добутих мінералів. Дипломна робота написана англійською мовою та надалі буде захищена в ТУ "Фрайберзька гірнича академія"

EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS – ESSENTIAL COORDINATES IN MEASURING THE PERFORMANCE OF WEEE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

This paperwork presents the most pertinent points of view regarding efficiency and effectiveness, as basic notions in defining the performance of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management systems. After a short incursion in the subject of performance and performance measuring, the paper presents and analysis some definitions of efficiency and effectiveness, emphasizing the conceptual delimitations between these two notions. Also, the paper focuses on justifying the necessity and opportunity of measuring the performance of the WEEE management systems, emphasizing on the benefits and limits of such a work and on the understanding the malfunctions that may arise in performance evaluationperformance, WEEE management system, efficiency, efficacy.

Human-Robot Collaboration as a new paradigm in circular economy for WEEE management

E-waste is a priority waste stream as identified by the European Commission due to fast technological changes and eagerness of consumers to acquire new products. The value chain of the Waste on Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) has to face several challenges: the EU directives requesting collection targets for 2019–2022, the costs of disassembly processes which is highly dependent on the applied technology and type of discarded device, and the sale of the obtained components and/or raw materials, with market prices varying according to uncontrolled variables at world level. This paper presents a human-robot collaboration for a recycling process where tasks are opportunistically assigned to either a human-being or a robot depending on the condition of the discarded electronic device. This solution presents some important advantages; i.e. tedious and dangerous tasks are assigned to robots whereas more value-added tasks are allocated to humans, thus preserving jobs and increasing job satisfaction. Furthermore, first results from a prototype show greater productivity and profitable projected investment

Quantification of polybrominated diphenylethers in oil produced by pyrolysis of flame retarded plastic

In recent years, there has been extensive research into using pyrolysis to convert toxic brominated plastics into safe, bromine free fuels. However, there has been little investigation of the polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) that are present in the pyrolysis oils. PBDEs are brominated flame retardants that are extremely toxic and are difficult to analyse owing to the existence of 209 different congeners. In this work, the authors have investigated the PBDEs present in the pyrolysis oil of high impact polystyrene which contained decabromodiphenyl ether as a flame retardant. The plastic was pyrolysed in a fluidised bed reactor and the resulting oil was subjected to a rigorous clean-up procedure to remove interfering compounds before the PBDEs were quantified using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. It was found that the most prominent PBDEs in the oil were 3-monoBDE, 4-monoBDE, 3,49-diBDE, 3,39,4-triBDE and 2,29,4,49,5,69-hexaBDE. The lesser brominated PBDEs were more prevalent than the more heavily brominated PBDEs

Considerations about implementation of the Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment Directive in Romania

Electric and Electronic Equipment Waste Management has become in the last years one of the most important concerns all over the world regarding environmental protection. For Romania, as for the other countries, members of the European Union, this concern has been intensified by the necessity of alignment to the European directives regarding electric and electronic equipment waste management, especially to the Directive 2002/96/CE. Although the waste quantities collected until now are far away from the goal proposed by EU, progresses have been made in what regards the implementation of an appropriate management system in Romania. This study presents the principal aspects with which European countries confront in implementing this directive and analyses the situation of Romania regarding the stage reached until now but also the main problems appeared during the last years. The paper is the result of the research in project “Modeling the Waste Management System for Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Romania in Order to Optimize the Environmental Impact of the Digital Economy”, code ID_1834, director Nadia Ciocoiu.Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), Directive 2002/96/CE, consumer behavior, collecting, recycling

Innovative Regulatory Frameworks Promoting Green Economy for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication in Europe

The political Rio 20 Declaration challenges lawyers and legal professionals around the world to think creatively about the legal preparedness for the green economy. To this end, this study focuses on highlighting the legal changes that are being adopted in Europe, at national and regional levels, to facilitate the transition to a greener economy. The purpose is thus to point out the challenges that domestic governments face in transitioning to a greener economy and to research the means by which these challenges can be met. This compendium gathers recent practices in legal and institutional reform that exemplify promising methods of addressing green economy measures

Environmental impact of ICT and implications for e-waste management in Romania

The development of Information and communications technology (ICT), as core of the digital economy, presents contradictory effects on the environment. The paper presents the main perspectives of environmental impact of ICT, especially in relation with waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE, e-waste), as they result from the approaches found in literature and the reports of official international and national bodies. The analysis of impact on environment and e-waste is done on two levels: the impact of ICT sectors and the impact of electronic applications (including the electronic commerce). The article ends with customizing the characteristics of the digital economy in Romania. Particular attention is paid to WEEE generated from the development of the digital economy and the significant challenges which the systems of collection, treatment and disposal must meet the environmental requirements.information and communications technology (ICT), digital economy, environmental impact, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE, e-waste).