Minimum treatment criteria for major hazards in WEEE

The European Union (EU) WEEE directive focuses on a number of major hazards and describes minimum treatment criteria for these. It is recommended that the same treatment criteria be adopted by remanufacturers and recyclers in New Zealand because:

  • the EU criteria identify the major hazards to be removed
  • the EU, as the first region to adopt WEEE legislation, has extensive experience, resources and several years of research and development into treating WEEE.

In the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published guidelines (www.defra.gov.uk, PDF, 123 KB) on the best recovery and recycling techniques for treating WEEE (Defra, 2006). These guidelines set out how the UK Government interprets the EU requirements. Table 10 highlights the key EU requirements and identifies how appropriate and relevant they may be to New Zealand.

Table 10: Summary of treatment criteria: items to be removed and separately treated from WEEE
  Item to be removed Where the item is found The UK requirements Discussion for New Zealand application/relevance
1 Fluids (non-refrigerant and refrigerant) Heating and cooling devices (fridges, freezers and oil-filled radiators).

Motor vehicles.		 Removal of all fluids before crushing or shredding.

All recovered oils and fluids separately contained and disposed of according to legislation covering hazardous waste and ozone-depleting substances.		 This would affect the scrap metal sector, although the presumption is that fluids are already drained.

Lubricating oil from refrigerators and air conditioning units initially still contains refrigerant gases so should be removed and collected even after degassing.
2 Capacitors containing polychlorinated biphenyls Historically used in capacitors and transformers, but they have been phased out and are unlikely to be found in appliances less than 20 years old. Remove and dispose of separately.

The Defra guidance (www.defra.gov.uk, PDF, 123 KB) gives more detail.		 This relates to historical wastes only.
3 Mercury-containing components Gas discharge lamps, medical equipment, data transmission, flat-panel displays, mobile phones and telecommunications, batteries, thermostats, position sensors, relays and switches. Good practice is to remove mercury-containing components before shredding.

Printed circuit boards (see item 5 of this table).

Batteries (see item 4 of this table).

Gas discharge lamps (see item 11 of this table).
 If batteries, lamps and circuit boards are already separated this is not a problem. They will be dealt with by specialist facilities experienced in recovering mercury.

It may be appropriate, in some circumstances, to keep the mercury-containing components integrated for safer transportation.

If a closed processing system exists, some of these items can be shredded without removing the mercury-containing components. The mercury has to be contained in the closed system and handled as hazardous waste.
4 Batteries A range of applications, separate battery packs and small back-up batteries on mother boards.

Gives advice on when to remove, but where practical should be removed intact and stored in appropriately labelled containers. Fire risk should be mitigated.

Follow existing waste transportation containment and labelling requirements.

On-board batteries must be removed from circuit boards, where practical, before shredding.

Batteries must be processed by vendors capable of recovering and recycling the battery materials, such as lead, cadmium, nickel, sulphuric acid, copper and zinc.

Guidelines for treating loose batteries (those not integrated into any electronic hardware) may be more appropriately handled using group standards under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996.

The requirement to remove back-up batteries from circuit boards before shredding may not be applicable in New Zealand if all printed circuit board processing takes place overseas, but current practice suggests most batteries are not removed from printed circuit boards before shredding.
5 Printed circuit boards where the surface of the circuit board is greater than 10 cm2 Found in any piece of EEE. Remove circuit boards from all WEEE and send for specialist recovery, even if the final destination is landfill.

This would cover a range of appliances.

If a closed processing system exists, some of the items can be shredded before removing the printed circuit boards. The printed circuit boards have to be contained in the closed system.
6 Toner cartridges Printers, fax machines and photocopiers.

Removed whole and intact.

Stored in suitable containers for recycling/reuse.

The Australasian Cartridge Remanufacturers Association has details of cartridge remanufacturers and recyclers in New Zealand working to a code of practice.

Some original equipment manufacturers also remanufacture or recycle printer cartridges. Details of the standards they follow should be requested from the original equipment manufacturer.
7 Plastics containing brominated flame retardants (BFRs)

A number of different flame retardants have been used in electrical and electronic equipment (see Defra guidance (www.defra.gov.uk, PDF, 123 KB) for more detail).

Treatment facilities must distinguish between plastic containing BFRs and those that don’t. If they cannot be distinguished, the assumption should be that they contain BFRs.

Any BFR plastics should not be recycled within the normal plastics recycling infrastructure due to contamination.

After separation, the BFR containing plastics should be sent to the appropriate recycling end-use specific to plastics containing BFRs.

Some work has been done to commercialise the removal of BFR from plastic (http://www.wrap.org.uk), but this is not readily available.

If you cannot tell if plastic contains BFR, the plastic must be treated as though it contains BFR. This means a lot of WEEE plastic cannot be recycled in existing routes. End-use options do exist for recycled plastics containing BFRs such as bromine recovery and waste to energy processing.
8 Asbestos waste and components that contain asbestos Items over 20 years old may contain asbestos and should be examined (eg, toasters and irons).

If identified, asbestos should be sent for appropriate disposal.

Specific measures are needed to protect workers.

The main impact in New Zealand would be on reuse programmes from householders, where old toasters, irons and coffee pots may contain asbestos.

Systems should be in place to identify asbestos-containing equipment in line with the Health and Safety in Employment (Asbestos) Regulations 1998. If not, then existing screening requirements should be amended to incorporate this.

For more information see the Department of Labour’s guidelines for the management and removal of asbestos.
9 Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) Computer monitors or TVs.

Removal of CRTs from separately collected WEEE.
Phosphorescent coating in CRT should be removed. This involves:

  • splitting front and cone glass and removing the coating, or shredding the CRT
  • mechanical recovery of the different materials.

Few commercial operators undertake this within New Zealand.

If sending overseas, the operator must be experienced in processing CRTs.
It may be appropriate for monitors to remain intact for safer storage and transportation to an overseas processor. Care should be taken to verify the end processor to ensure monitors do not end up in the ‘reuse’ market.
10 Chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons and flammable hydrocarbons

Appliance insulation.

Refrigerants and cooling equipment (fridges, freezers, air conditioners).

This covers foam as well as the removal of gases.

Follow the Australia/New Zealand Refrigerant Handling Code of Practice.

Ozone-depleting substances are already covered by regulation in New Zealand. New Zealand’s obligations under the Montreal Protocol are implemented through the Ozone Layer Protection Act 1996 and the Ozone Layer Protection Regulations 1996.

However, chlorofluorocarbons in foam are not removed in New Zealand.
11

Gas discharge lamps (fluorescent lamps)

Appliances such as refrigerators and computer monitors, laptops, handhelds and printer displays with fluorescent lamp backlights.

Includes those incorporated into appliances and those that are stand alone where the lamp can be easily removed without breaking.

Vacuum-controlled shredding/crushing followed by separation into glass, metal and powder.

Removal of gas discharge lamps followed by safe removal of mercury.

Where the lamp is too small to remove without breaking, the alternative is to safely and responsibly manage the item as a whole.

Individual fluorescent lamps can already be collected and crushed in New Zealand before the material is exported overseas for further processing and recycling.

Any fluorescent backlights should be removed, where practical, from TVs, monitors and refrigerators.
12 Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) Mobile phones, computer monitors.

Removal of any gas discharge lamps that provide the backlighting for the LCD if their surface area is greater than 110 cm2.

Where the process exists, they can be recycled without removal.

There is currently no disposal route for LCDs in New Zealand except export overseas for processing. It may be appropriate to keep the item intact for safer transportation when exporting overseas.
13 External electric cables Found in all items of WEEE.

Removal either before or after manual or mechanical disassembly of WEEE.

Removed as part of shredder residue.

Removed cable should not be smouldered.

Several recyclers in New Zealand accept electric cables and wiring for recycling and separate the copper from the PVC.
14 Components containing refractory ceramic fibres (RCFs) Furnace/heat kiln linings.

RCFs may be used in both domestic and building heating appliances, although the insulation materials used in domestic electrical appliances are more likely to contain mineral wools.		 Appliances that may contain RCFs should be examined. This covers only a small number of items and would only have a limited impact.
15 Components containing radioactive substances (note exemptions) Certain medical test equipment and smoke detectors (although ionisation chamber smoke detectors used in domestic smoke detectors should be below the limits). Should be removed whole, except those that are exempt under the UK requirements. Radioactive substances are already included in New Zealand legislation and the Auckland Regional Council / Scrap Metal Recycling Organisation report also gives guidance in this area.

Radiation Protection Regulations 1982.
16 Electrolyte capacitors containing substances of concern, over 25 mm or proportionally similar volume Typically smoothing capacitors in power supplies that use a transformer (eg, stereo equipment). The advice from Defra is that modern electrolyte capacitors are unlikely to contain hazardous substances and nearly all are mounted onto circuit boards so would be removed with the circuit board before landfill. (See printed circuit boards – item 5 of this table.)
  

Source: Based on Defra, 2006. See the full document (www.defra.gov.uk, PDF, 123 KB) for more detail.

Back to top


|

Last updated:15 March 2011