Search

• Explores barriers to applying the waste hierarchy for e-waste. • 30 semi-structured expert interviews examined the impact of the WEEE Directive. • Legislation has prompted innovation in recycling and higher capture rates. • Recovery through recycling is limited to easily salvageable materials. • Waste prevention and reuse of EEE is often neglected in favour of recycling. Rapidly developing technology and an increasing number of products containing electrical or electronic functions, has led to discarded electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) being one of the fastest growing waste streams. The European Union (EU) has enacted several iterations of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive to address this complex waste stream. However, recycling dominates treatments for e-waste, despite the established 'waste hierarchy' showing waste prevention and reuse are generally preferable to recycling. This paper reports on 30 semi-structured interviews, undertaken across the EEE value chain, examining the impact of the WEEE Directive in the UK. The interviews confirmed that reuse takes place for a limited number of product types, mostly on a small scale. Additionally, whilst legislation has prompted innovation in recycling and higher capture rates, resource recovery is in practice limited to easily salvageable materials, whilst recovery of critical raw materials is often neglected. Furthermore, there is confusion around available collection networks, particularly for small WEEE, which consistently appears in residual waste streams. The waste hierarchy remains the key component of EU waste strategy and moving to the higher levels of the waste hierarchy is an essential part of achieving sustainable waste management and moving towards a circular economy. The paper proposes a series of measures to this end: promoting recovery routes and practices that facilitate reuse of suitable products, adapting recycling technology to increase recovery of critical raw materials and targeted policies to encourage the application of the waste hierarchy within a resource efficiency-oriented framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing global sustainability challenges associated with natural resource security and climate change requires new perspective on waste and resource management. Sustainability-driven business model innovations have a crucial role in transforming current, unsustainable, production and consumption patterns by slowing product replacement and closing material cycles. This study identifies best practice across a range of consumer product sectors. The study developed a novel methodology to identify and evaluate practical approaches to resource efficiency and the circular economy in order to reduce energy and material demand in these product sectors. These approaches include durable product design, enhanced repair and upgrade services, and product take-back. The study analysed 519 products and identified a total 145 examples of best practice within their respective product sectors that provide important insights into planning more circular business models in a range of product sectors. The paper highlights major barriers to, and opportunities, for wider implementation of these practices. • Products were evaluated based on practical approaches to prolong product lifetimes and close material cycles • An overview of current best practices was presented based on the evaluation of 519 consumer products • Study identified 145 examples of the current 'best practice' that could lead sustainable innovations in the studied sectors • Studied identified a huge gap in current business models that do not focus on value recovery from post-consumer discards • Major barriers and opportunities to the best practices for a wider implementation were highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]