TY - GEN

T1 - WOT? Insights into the flows and fates of e-waste in the UK

AU - Stowell, Alison

AU - Yumashev, Dmitry

AU - Downes, Sarah

PY - 2019/9/21

Y1 - 2019/9/21

N2 - In 2019 the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive documented a sizable increase in e-waste collection targets alongside a wider scope of electronic and electrical products covered by the legislation. These changes have significant impact for the UK, as for the past two years UK waste collected has failed to meet the newly adopted set of targets. Understanding theflows and fates of products on and off the market becomes of paramount importance, especially for producer-led organisations who have the responsibility to achieve the targets and cover the operational costs. Historic e-waste estimation methods often assume that one product on the market will equate toone product in the waste stream. In this article, we report on a project commissioned by one of the largest UK producer-led organizations – REPIC Ltd, in search of an explanation of the observed drop-in products on the market and WEEE collected, and the relationship between the two. We argue that we should move away from “one product in and one product out” assumption to include wider parameters that are tailored specifically for the UK, including those linked with the state of the market for electronic and electrical products and of the wider economy, examples include inflation-adjusted GDP per capita, consumer confidence index (CCI), inflation indices (CPI or RPI), number of households, wealth distribution etc. We show how this can be achieved by adapting a state-of the-art e-waste estimation model (Waste Over Time) to the UK context and developing it further to include additional drivers.

AB - In 2019 the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive documented a sizable increase in e-waste collection targets alongside a wider scope of electronic and electrical products covered by the legislation. These changes have significant impact for the UK, as for the past two years UK waste collected has failed to meet the newly adopted set of targets. Understanding theflows and fates of products on and off the market becomes of paramount importance, especially for producer-led organisations who have the responsibility to achieve the targets and cover the operational costs. Historic e-waste estimation methods often assume that one product on the market will equate toone product in the waste stream. In this article, we report on a project commissioned by one of the largest UK producer-led organizations – REPIC Ltd, in search of an explanation of the observed drop-in products on the market and WEEE collected, and the relationship between the two. We argue that we should move away from “one product in and one product out” assumption to include wider parameters that are tailored specifically for the UK, including those linked with the state of the market for electronic and electrical products and of the wider economy, examples include inflation-adjusted GDP per capita, consumer confidence index (CCI), inflation indices (CPI or RPI), number of households, wealth distribution etc. We show how this can be achieved by adapting a state-of the-art e-waste estimation model (Waste Over Time) to the UK context and developing it further to include additional drivers.

KW - E-waste Estimation

KW - WOT, Dynamic Model

KW - WEEE Regulation

KW - WEEE Directive

U2 - 10.14279/depositonce-9253

DO - 10.14279/depositonce-9253

M3 - Conference contribution/Paper

SN - 9783798331259

SP - 723

EP - 728

BT - PLATE – Product lifetimes and the environment Proceedings

A2 - Nissen, Nils F.

A2 - Jaeger-Erben, Melanie

PB - Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin

CY - Berlin

ER -