Recycling critical raw materials from waste electronic equipment

Recycling critical raw materials
from waste electronic equipment
7 Summary and recommendations for action
In this section the detailed results of the study, i.e.
� The life cycle inventory analysis for the metals and equipment studied,
� A description of the market situation and its development,
� Presentation of the current recycling situation and
� Developments in recycling
which are presented in detail in Sections 1 to 6 are summarized and recommendations for
action drawn from these.
Life cycle inventory analysis
As part of the life cycle inventory analysis, the potential quantities of metal for subsequent
recycling are summarized using the recorded amounts of the selected metals per device and
the number of flat screens, notebooks and smartphones (only the private market excluding
business customers) marketed in Germany in 2010. Due to a lack of accurate sales figures
for the fourth group of devices investigated, LED lights, (only those for home use were
included here) a 70% replacement of all incandescent lamps i.e. all lamps in private
households was applied for this sub-segment to reach an estimate of their importance. The
results of the life cycle inventory analysis are summarized in the following table. The
individual values which are taken from Sections 2 to 5 are rounded off in the table. Significant
amounts in terms of recycling potential are highlighted in bold red.
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