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Key messages: Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) contains dangerous substances that pose risks to the environment and human health. In 2022, the WEEE collection rate was 40.6%, which is still lower than the 65% target set by the WEEE Directive. Electrical and electronic equipment is placed on the market faster than WEEE is collected, which reflects Member States’ struggle to reach collection targets and ensure that it does not reach the environment.
WEEE collection rate and EEE placed on the market (2011-2022)
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Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world (see RMIS — E-waste). Due to the presence of harmful additives and dangerous substances, inadequate WEEE management can pose substantial risks to both the environment and human health.
Furthermore, WEEE is an important source of secondary raw materials, containing many precious, critical and strategic materials, and other base metals. Recycling WEEE avoids the significant pollution linked to mining these metals.
In Europe, most WEEE is regulated by the WEEE Directive (EU, 2012). Its formal collection usually falls under the requirements of national legislation, in which WEEE is collected by designated organisations, producers and/or the public authorities. This happens via retailers, municipal collection points and/or pick-up services (Eurostat, 2023).
The EU-wide WEEE collection rate increased 10 percent points, from 38.6% in 2014 to 48.6% in 2019. After this, collection rates started to decrease, dropping almost 9 percent points between 2019 and 2022. The 2022 collection rate, 40.6%, is lower than the 2019 target defined in the WEEE Directive: 65% for the separate collection of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) placed on the market.
The decreasing trend in the WEEE collection rate in 2022 is related to a faster increase of EEE placed on the market in previous years than WEEE collected: EEE placed on the market has grown 80% since 2015, moving from 18 to 28 kg/capita, while WEEE collected has grown 54.7% over the same period. This confirms the observation that EU Member States struggle to reach their collection targets. The European Commission is currently evaluating the EU WEEE Directive in order to determine if a review is needed.
The main bottlenecks in reaching the targets are the mixing of WEEE with metal scrap, its disposal in residual waste, unreported export out of the EU, recycling under non-compliant conditions and export for reuse. Another important bottleneck is the large stock of used EEE and WEEE stored or hoarded in households, businesses and organisations before being discarded (Baldé et al., 2021). Indeed, according to a survey conducted in more than 8,000 European households, 13% of them keep their WEEE because of ‘emotional attachment’ (WEEE Forum, 2022) to e.g. headphones, remote controls, clocks and phones.
Please consult the relevant indicators and signals below for a more comprehensive overview on the topic.
Zero Pollution Action Plan 2030 target or policy objectives
- Reduce residual municipal waste by 50%.
- Significantly reduce total waste generation.
- Collection rate of 65% of the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) placed on the market by 2019 (EU, 2012).
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Other relevant indicators and signals
References and footnotes
- Eurostat, 2024, Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) by waste management operations -open scope, 6 product categories (from 2018 onwards), Statistics | Eurostat, accessed 03 November 2024.↵
- EU, 2012, Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (OJ L 197 24.7.2012, p. 38).a b
- ↵Eurostat, 2023, ‘Waste statistics - electrical and electronic equipment’ (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Waste_statistics_-_electrical_and_electronic_equipment) accessed 2 August 2024.
- ↵Baldé, C.P., et al., 2021, ‘Update of WEEE Collection Rates, Targets, Flows, and Hoarding – 2021 in the EU-27, United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland’, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (https://www.scycle.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Update-of-WEEE-Collection_web_final_nov_29.pdf) accessed 2 August 2024.
- ↵WEEE Forum, 2022, ‘International E-waste Day: Of ~16 Billion Mobile Phones Possessed Worldwide, ~5.3 Billion will Become Waste in 2022’ (https://weee-forum.org/ws_news/of-16-billion-mobile-phones-possessed-worldwide-5-3-billion-will-become-waste-in-2022/) accessed 2 August 2024.