Project no: 1859
November 2012
Resource Futures
CREATE Centre, Smeaton Road, Bristol BS1 6XN
Tel: 0117 930 4355
Fax: 0117 929 7283
www.resourcefutures.co.uk
Document quality control sheet
Report prepared for:
Collaborative Waste, Resources and Sustainable Consumption Evidence Programme, Defra
Report prepared by:
Gina Anderson, BioIS
Billy Harris, Resource Futures
Checked by: Sam Reeve
Operations Director
File name: SMPT_002_SmallWEEE
Version: 01
Status: confidential
Date: November 2012
Acknowledgements:
The authors would like to thank: Scott Butler (ERP), Willie Cade and Sarah Commes (PC Builders and Recyclers), Cristina Osoro Cangas (Charity Retail Association), Sarah Clayton (WRAP), Corey Dehmey (R2 Solutions), Dr. Colin Fitzpatrick (University of Limerick), Gary Griffiths (RDC), Emma Hallett (ReAlliance), Eric Long (Comet), Sean Nicholson (Microsoft UK), Richard Peagram (HP), David Roman (British Heart Foundation), Caroline Lee Smith.
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. End of life arisings and re-use baseline 3
2.1 Current baseline levels of re-use 5
3. Technical potential for re-use 5
4. Pathways to re-use 8
4.1 Commercial second hand shops 8
4.2 Charity shops 8
4.3 Online exchange 9
4.4 Car boot sales 9
4.5 Asset management companies 9
4.6 Informal exchange 9
5. Market demand 10
6. Barriers 12
7. Opportunities 13
8. Potential actions to encourage re-use 14
8.1 Producer responsibility 16
9. Scenarios 17
10. Potential impacts of product re-use 19
10.1 Carbon offset values of re-use 19
10.2 Impact of re-use on product lifetime 19
11. Case studies 20
11.1 Case Study: Computers for Schools programme 21
11.2 Case Study: RDC’s computer re-use operations 22
11.3 Case study: Awareness raising & collection event by Hampshire County Council 23
12. Summary of findings 24
13. Data gaps and future work 27
Market potential and demand for product re-use: Small WEEE
November 2012
27
Market potential and demand for product re-use: Small WEEE
November 2012
1. Introduction
Around 591,000 tonnes of small WEEE reaches the end of its life every year in England, of which the majority is domestic. This section looks at the arisings of domestic and commercial small WEEE, the levels of re-use currently being achieved and the potential to encourage further re-use.
The material in this section covers:
· The levels of end-of-life material arising each year.
· The levels of re-use currently being achieved and the major channels through which items are re-used.
· The potential for re-use of items in the waste stream that are currently not being re-used, and the composition of this material.
· A discussion of the level of consumer demand for a range of second-hand small WEEE items and the implications of this demand for potential expansion of re-use.
· Current and emerging market barriers and opportunities to expanding small WEEE re-use.
· A discussion of a range of possible actions that could be introduced to encourage increased re-use, along with an estimate of the impact of these measures and potential costs.
· Modelling of re-use scenarios to examine the effect of measures to increase re-use, taking variations in demand into account.
· Assessment of the potential carbon impacts of these scenarios.
· Summaries of the case studies conducted as part of the small WEEE module of this project (more detailed case studies are presented in Appendix 1).
For the purposes of this study, four categories of items were selected as the focus of the current report: small household appliances, consumer equipment, IT and telecoms and display screen equipment. These were selected based on their quantities arising, potential for re-use and availability of information. The categories examined across this and the large WEEE report account for 81% of total WEEE arisings.
Other WEEE categories have been excluded in this study. One of the key reasons for the exclusion of a number of categories were the small quantities represented (e.g. automatic dispensers, monitoring and control instruments, medical devices and toys, leisure and sports equipment represent each 0.2% or less of the total amount of WEEE arising).[i] Other reasons were the lack of potential for re-use (e.g. lighting equipment, gas discharge lamps) and the often diverse range of equipment. Furthermore, a lack of published information existed on these categories. Table 1 shows the categories of products selected for examination in this study, as well as examples of the items covered.[ii]
It should also be noted that the analysis was built on data reported against the WEEE Directive categories. These do not take the size of items into account, and as a result the small WEEE category contains some large items (for example office photocopiers would fall under IT and telecoms). This inclusion was unavoidable, since published data is at the level of the WEEE Directive categories rather than specific products.
Table 1 below shows the segmentation of products used, and some illustrative examples of the products within each category.
Table 1: Product segmentation and key items examined for small WEEE in this study
Segmentation / Examples of items included /Small household appliances / Toasters
Kettles
Vacuum cleaners
Consumer equipment / MP3 players
Hi Fi equipment
Video games equipment
Video recorders
IT and telecoms / Computers
Laptops
Peripherals
Mobile phones
Telephones
Display screen equipment / Cathode ray tubes (CRT)
Liquid crystal display (LCD)
Televisions
WEEE categories excluded from the analysis are shown in Table 2 for information.
Table 2: WEEE categories excluded from analysis
Category excluded / Estimated arising (tonnes)Large household appliances† / 306,000
Lighting equipment / 64,000
Electrical and electronic tools / 83,000
Toys, leisure and sport / 55,000
Medical devices / 10,000
Monitoring and control / 17,000
Automatic dispensers / 10,000
Cooling appliances† / 207,000
Gas discharge lamps / 21,000
† Included in coverage of large WEEE.
2. End of life arisings and re-use baseline
The tables below (Tables 3-9) show the estimated end-of-life arisings, baseline re-use levels, major pathways and condition of material (i.e. suitability for re-use) when discarded. The figures for WEEE currently being sent for disposal or recycling that is suitable for re-use may be taken as a strong indicator of the technical potential for additional re-use, since it is this material (re-usable items not currently being re-used) that could be targeted by actions to increase re-use in the short to medium term. Longer term technical potential – incorporating changes in design and large-scale shifts in consumer attitudes towards consumption – have not been considered in this report, as the enormous number of potential variables (and unknown impacts) would render any conclusions speculative. Arisings and general fate of end-of-life products in England
Table 3 presents the amount of small WEEE items arriving at end-of-life in England annually and its fate (recycling, disposal or re-use).
Arisings figures have been taken from WRAP’s (2011) Market Flows of WEEE Materials, as have figures for the amount sent for recycling and disposal. Re-use figures are based on information from the WRAP report plus interviews with market actors carried out as part of this research.
It will be noticed that the sum of re-use, recycling and disposal comes to more than the estimated total end-of-life arising (613,000 tonnes as opposed to 591,000). Theoretically, if we are beginning with end-of-life data (rather than information on the amount of new product entering the market), we would expect the re-use, recycling and disposal figures to be additive. However, the combination of multiple data sources and the fact that a large proportion of material being re-used never enters the waste stream makes it extremely difficult to establish an end of life arising in such a way that end fates are additive. However, the closeness of the two figures suggests that the data is relatively robust.
It should be noted that throughout the section below, figures may not sum exactly. While many figures are from the same source, rounding has led to some discrepancies between domestic and commercial sub-figures and totals. Furthermore, in some cases, due to the overlap of pathways there may be some double counting (for example, it is unclear to what extent re-use through AATFs also accounts for re-use through charity shops or other pathways). All UK figures have been weighted to England based on population.[1]
Table 3: Arisings and fate of small WEEE in England
Total (tonnes) / Domestic (tonnes) / Commercial (tonnes) / Notes / Data confidenceEnd of life arisings / 591,000 / 431,000 / 160,000 / Source: WRAP (2011). Total arisings minus net hoarding. / High
Recycling / 274,000 / 204,000 / 71,000 / Source: WRAP (2011) / Medium
Landfill/incineration / 256,000 / 188,000 / 68,000 / Source: WRAP (2011) / Medium
Current re-use / 83,000 / 37,000 / 45,000 / Based on interviews and data from re-use organisations / Medium
Table 4 shows the pathways through which small WEEE items are discarded. Again, it will be noted that the sum of the discard pathways comes to more than the estimated end of life arisings. As previously, this is due to combining figures from a range of sources. However, the closeness of the two figures (591,000 tonnes end-of-life compared with 600,000 tonnes combined discard pathways) again suggests that the figures are in general agreement.
Table 4: Discard pathways for small WEEE items
Total (tonnes) / Domestic (tonnes) / Commercial (tonnes) / Notes / Data confidenceHWRC / 153,000 / 153,000 / 0 / Source: WRAP (2011) / Medium
Charity shops / 4,000 / 4,000 / 0 / Source: No published data. Interview with BHF suggests that it re-uses around 1,800 tonnes of small WEEE each year. / Low
Warranty takeback or retail takeback / 20,000 / 15,000 / 5,000 / Source: WRAP (2011) / Medium
Car boot sales / 2,000 / 2,000 / 0 / DEFRA (2012) figure for electronics / Medium
Other disposal / recycling / 218,000 / 164,000 / 54,000 / Source: WRAP (2011) / Medium
Indirect collections / 112,000 / 90,000 / 22,000 / Source: WRAP (2011) / Medium
Online exchange / 12,000 / 12,000 / 0 / Based on WRAP (2011) online exchange report, covering TVs, computers, IT and mobile phones only. Figure including small household appliances is likely to be higher. / Low
Asset management / 64,000 / 0 / 64,000 / Source: WRAP (2011) / Medium
Other re-use outlets / 15,000 / 0 / 15,000 / Source: WRAP (2011). Has not been included for domestic to eliminate double counting. / Medium
Total / 600,000 / 440,000 / 160,000
The largest discard route in the above table is other disposal (218,000 tonnes), which includes bulky waste, kerbside residual and kerbside recycling collections. Indirect collections account for a further 112,000 tonnes. Indirect collections include third party door-to-door collections by for-profit companies. This collection method has become popular in some areas, such as London, with DHL acting as one of the largest door-to-door WEEE collectors in the UK. Items collected in this way are typically sent for recycling rather than re-use, though it might be possible to divert some of these items to re-use if the collection system were optimised to maintain items in good condition.
Collections via warranty return and retailer take back schemes are other pathways for household small WEEE; items collected through this route could be re-used or recycled. Collection via online exchange platforms also primarily concerns household small WEEE items.
For commercial small WEEE, collection primarily takes place through “other” routes, for example asset management companies. This is a difficult stream to quantify, as items collected via asset management systems often never enter the waste stream but are re-deployed.
2.1 Current baseline levels of re-use
The section presents data on current levels of re-use for small WEEE items via different pathways. Of the estimated 83,000 tonnes of small WEEE re-used, 38,000 tonnes arises from the household sector and 45,000 tonnes from the commercial sector.
Total re-use has been calculated through adding re-use accounted for in the WEEE flows report to re-use measured through the sources listed in the table below. Amounts distributed through commercial second-hand shops and asset management companies have been estimated on the basis of re-use not accounted for through other pathways. This forms a potential weakness, in that informal exchanges are not accounted for anywhere in the table, on the basis of a lack of published data.
Table 5: Current levels of small WEEE re-use
Total (tonnes) / Domestic (tonnes) / Commercial (tonnes) / Notes / Data confidenceTotal re-use / 83,000 / 38,000 / 45,000 / Medium
Charity shops / 5,000 / 5,000 / 0 / Source: No published data. Estimated based on BHF interview / Low. Based on BHF interview
Commercial second hand / 18,000 / 12,000 / 6,000 / Source: WRAP (2011) based on total minus accounted for re-use. Commercial re-use divided 1:4 between second-hand and asset management. / Low.
Asset management / 25,000 / 0 / 25,000 / Low
Car boot sales / 2,000 / 2000 / 0 / Source: DEFRA (2012) / Medium
Online exchange / 12,000 / 12000 / 0 / Source: WRAP Online exchange report (2011) / Low. Does not include all items. Likely an underestimate.
Export / 21,000 / 7,000 / 14,000 / Source: WRAP (2011)
3. Technical potential for re-use
The technical potential for increased re-use, over and above existing levels, has been calculated below based on the condition of the 530,000 tonnes of small WEEE sent for recycling or disposal (see Table 3).
The 2011 WRAP study Realising the re-use value of household WEEE examined domestic WEEE items delivered to HWRCs and collected through bulky waste collection services, and classified their potential for re-use as shown in Table 5.
Table 6: Suitability for re-use of small WEEE
Category / Percentage accounted forFully re-usable in current condition / 4%
Slight repair required, but in general good condition / 5%
Parts missing, but reusable with slight/moderate repair / 0%
The first category was classified as suitable for immediate re-use, while the other two were regarded as economically viable to repair.
These figures seem to be generally representative for small household WEEE sent for disposal. A study conducted in 2012 by Hampshire County Council based on a series of bring events focused on small WEEE (see case study) suggested that around 3.7% of WEEE brought to events by residents was fit for re-use in its current condition. However, it should be noted that both this and the WRAP study covered only domestic WEEE, excluding business and public sector waste. The percentages representing re-use potential may not be representative for business and commercial small WEEE, or WEEE collected through other channels.