Discarded appliances can be handed in at the civic amenity site or at retailers. Weee Netherlands also believes in local collection by e.g. schools or sports clubs. One notices that this raises awareness in adults and children alike. They are actively involved and hence make sure that more devices can be recycled. That is why we, together with our partners, organize collection campaigns such as the e-waste race and EcoSupporter. They have proven their effectiveness.
From the civic amenity site, retailers and other collection points e-waste is transported to sorting centers. In the sorting process, Weee Nederland tries to make use of people with a distance to the labour market as much as possible. This means that we take the sorting process a step further than regional sorting centers ususally do. We do not leave the removal of batteries and printer toners to recyclers. We take care of that ourselves when we are handling the devices anyway, when unloading the mixed containers from civic amenity sites. We also sort the devices into different types to maximize yields. Our method hardly increases costs, but provides a lot of extra value. During the processing of the large white goods the first step is to remove, amongst others, polluting elements. Also at this step in the recycling process, our partners make as much use of people with a distance to the labour market as possible. Our vision on the creation of human added value is increasingly shared by our recyclers.
This means that, on a daily basis, containers containing a mix of WEEE types are sorted for the processing chain, e.g at HVC. Batteries, printer toners and polluting elements such as cardboard and dust bags are also removed. At Virol, people dismantle desktop PCs on a daily basis. Circuit boards and cables are sorted by quality in order to achieve the highest possible recycling results. At AEB Amsterdam, mixed WEEE from municipalities is sorted. In addition, cables are sorted, ground and separated into copper and plastic granulate. Milieuwerk offers employees with a distance to the labour market guidance and training. The specialized processors turn sorted waste into raw materials that can be used for new products. Thus, the chain is closed, and together we contribute to a sustainable economy. Weelec is one of the processors of large white goods for Weee Netherlands. Before devices are shredded by a machine, capacitors, wood, glass, and concrete are manually removed. This leads to cleaner material for reuse as well as environmental benefits.
Impact
A proper recycling of WEEE contributes to reducing the greenhouse effect, as there will be less need for new raw materials and there is a reduction of CO2 emissions. In short, CSR and WEEE are a highly effective combination.