Recycling critical raw materials from waste electronic equipment

Recycling critical raw materials
from waste electronic equipment
Figure 16: Percentage 24 of notebooks, netbooks and tablet PCs in sales of mobile computers (Young
2011)
Unlike LCD TV sets, notebooks already mainly use white LEDs for the background
illumination. The corresponding market share was around 92% worldwide in 2010, with an
ongoing slightly upward trend (see Figure 5, Young 2011). An interesting point in relation to
the use of critical raw materials is the fact that tablet PCs require an approximately 60%
brighter background illumination than do traditional notebooks. This means that relatively
more LEDs are required per device. The increasing degree of resolution of the screens used
in tablet PCs also requires brighter background illumination (Young 2011).
3.8 Service life and collection rates for notebooks
The service life of notebooks was estimated at an average of 5.6 years as part of the EU
eco-design process (EuP 2007). This figure includes both the first use and the length of an
average second use. In 2008 319,983 t of the WEEE product category 3 (IT and
telecommunication equipment) were put on the market in Germany. In the same period
155,007 t of this category were collected through the official return and collection systems for
controlled recycling and disposal (BMU 2009). If it is assumed that these values can be
applied to notebooks, then the collection rates can be estimated at just 50% for notebooks in
Germany 25 . There is no reliable data on the whereabouts of the remaining devices. In
24 Projected from 2011
25 This value does not contain a delay due to the use phase of the equipment. It is therefore merely an estimated
value for the actual collection rate.
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