SWEDISH WASTE MANAGEMENT |2010 - Avfall Sverige

SWEDISH WASTE MANAGEMENT 2010
WASTE FROM ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (WEEE)
In 2009, 143,850 tons of waste from electrical
and electronic equipment – the abbreviation
WEEE – was collected, which is a decrease
of 5.2 percent compared to 2008. On average,
15.4 kg WEEE per person was collected in
2009, compared to 16.3 kg per person the
year before. There are close connections
between economic situation, consumption
and waste production. The reduction is therefore
likely to be a result of the recession and of
smaller and lighter electric and electronic
products.
Since the producer’s responsibility was
taken into effect in Sweden, local authorities
and producers have cooperated in the management
of WEEE. Together, Avfall Sverige –
Swedish Waste Management, the Swedish
Association of Local Authorities and Regions
(SALAR), and the electrical producers’ service
company, El-kretsen, created the system in
2001. The collaboration means that local
authorities assume responsibility for the collection
of electronic waste from households,
and the producers are responsible for its treatment.
Collection of electronic waste from households
is primarily carried out at the manned
municipal recycling centers, of which there are
approximately 600 throughout the country. In
some municipalities this is complemented by are incinerated in waste-to-energy plants, and
curbside collection. Avfall Sverige – Swedish metal is recycled in smelting plants.
Waste Management and El-Kretsen collaborate
with several local authorities on different
projects to develop these collection systems.
An example of this is the collection of light
bulbs and smaller electric and electronic waste
into small containers, which are placed in
stores and other public places.
WEEE is pretreated through sorting and dismantling
before it is sent on for further treatment.
Pretreatment is carried out in certified
facilities, and later forwarded to final treatment
or recycling.
Components containing hazardous substances,
i.e. hazardous waste, are treated in
approved treatment facilities. Plastic casings
Fluorescent tubes and low-energy bulbs contain
mercury. These products are therefore
separated and treated in a closed process. The
glass and metal contents are recycled, and
methods enabling the recycling of the phosphorus
powder with its mercury content, is
being developed.
It happens that old electronic products are
donated to other countries as charity, for what
may seem as a good cause, but this is however
not environmentally friendly. From an environmental
point of view, it is better to have these
products recycled in Sweden, where we have
methods to treat such waste in an environmentally
sound way.
COLLECTION OF WEEE 2003-2009
tons
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
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Återvunnet elavfall
13