Waste electrical and electronic equipment: where and how to dispose of it

Electrical and electronic devices are particularly prone toobsolescence . As a result, they need to be replaced with more modern and up-to-date models within a few years.

This mechanism results in the production of a huge amount of waste, despite the fact that many of the materials used in the manufacture of this type of equipment can be-even partially-recovered.

Reason being, a variety of regulatory measures have been taken over the past decade to organize proper management of waste electrical and electronic equipment, from delivery to recycling treatment or valorization.

What is electrical and electronic equipment

Article 4 of the Legislative Decree March 14, 2014, no. 49, which incorporates the EU Directive 2012/19 at waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), defines these as “Equipment that depends on electric currents or electromagnetic fields for proper operation and equipment for generating, transferring, and measuring these currents and fields and designed for use with a voltage not exceeding 1000 volts for alternating current and 1500 volts for direct current“.

Included in this definition, according to Annex II of Dlsg 49/2014, are small and large household appliances (including televisions), computer equipment, and telecommunications devices, including:

• Stationary computers;
• Laptops;
• Monitor;
• Laptop;
• Notebook;
• Printers;
• Copiers and Minicomputers.

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of electrical or electronic equipment “which the holder intends to discard because it is defective, unused, or obsolete which under environmental law is considered waste, including all components and consumables that are an integral part of the product when the decision is made to discard it.”

The regulations also identify different categories of WEEE(household, professional,
dual use
and equivalent) depending on the context and intended use.

For the disposal of WEEE, the reference directive is the DM No. 65 8 March 2010, or the “Regulations on Simplified Modalities for the Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE),” which identifies the components of the WEEE management system. This system includes:

• Collection Centers (CdRs), are drop-off sites operated by municipalities;
• Grouping sites, registered with the WEEE Coordination Center, are collection points operated by electrical and electronic equipment distributors or retailers;
• Technical service centers and outlets have a legal duty to collect WEEE free of charge when selling or replacing an equivalent EEE (unless there is a real risk of contamination);
• Treatment centers are specialized sites that deal with the storage or treatment of WEEE for recycling, recovery, and valorization of various materials.

How to dispose of waste electrical and electronic equipment

According to current regulations, WEEE can be disposed of in one of the following ways:

• Drop-off at municipal collection centers; in this case, simply hand over the waste to a technician in charge of the center during opening hours. It should be noted that CoRs can only be used for the delivery of household WEEE;
• Drop-off at grouping or pick-up locations; users can drop off waste at a special point set up by an electrical and electronic products distributor (usually located in or near a retail outlet);
• Referral to a technical service center; this mode provides free pickup of the waste by a qualified technician.

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