Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment, often shortened to WEEE or e-waste, is one of the fastest growing solid waste streams in the world. Compared to 7.3 million tonnes in 2013, 2023 saw 14.4 million tonnes of electrical & electronic equipment were placed on the EU market. Yet, only 5.2 million tonnes were collected, or 11.6kg per person.
Including phones, computers, household appliances, and medical devices, WEEE contains a complex mixture of materials, some of which are hazardous. If discarded devices are not managed properly, these materials can cause major environmental and health problems. Modern electronics also contain rare and expensive resources, including critical raw materials, which can be recycled and reused if designed and managed properly.
Nearly half of the WEEE generated in the European Union is still not being collected, and the majority of Member States do not reach the collection target set out in the WEEE Directive, which is the main European piece of legislation targeting WEEE. In 2022, only Bulgaria, Latvia, and Slovakia met its 65% collection target. Furthermore, the WEEE Directive has had a limited impact on enhancing material recycling and recovery; currently, only about 40% of WEEE is recycled in the EU.
The revision of the WEEE Directive into a WEEE Regulation is expected to be announced in the early autumn of 2026 as one of the European Commission’s legislative proposals to boost the circular economy. The change to a Regulation signifies that the rules of the legislation would apply more uniformly across all Member States, rather than the current setup as a Directive where common targets are set but Member States can devise their own measures to reach them.

Why is prevention key to reducing the environmental impact of WEEE?

Improving the collection, treatment and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment at the end of their life can increase resource efficiency and recover significant amount of materials included in these items. Nevertheless, to strongly reduce the environmental footprint of WEEE, the principal work should be done before the equipment becomes waste.

Why is WEEE a relevant waste stream to move towards a circular economy?

WEEE is the fastest growing waste stream and rapid technological advancements and economic investments mean that fact is not going to change anytime soon. Yet, despite the breakneck pace of development, many electronic products are becoming redundant more quickly, meaning they become waste faster. Have you ever heard of planned obsolescence?

Planned obsolescence is the set of techniques designed to reduce the lifespan or service life of a product in order to increase its replacement rate. [repairtogether.be]

As well as safeguarding sensitive data from falling into landfills where it can be later recovered and abused, proper management of WEEE can drive the circular economy by securing critical raw materials, incentivising repair, and promoting more sustainable product design. Electrical and electronic equipment contains expensive, finite material resources such as gold, copper, lithium, cobalt, and rare earth metals; recovering these properly can boost a territory’s dependency on volatile foreign supply chains and save costs.
Facilitating repair of EEE means that when one component breaks, the entire device does not need to be disposed of. This reduces the strain on the waste management system and filters what is broken from what is perfectly good.
Finally, by imposing Extended Producer Responsibility on EEE manufacturers, they become incentivised to design products that are modular, easier to disassemble or repair, and track devices with Digital Product Passports.