Enabling preparation for re-use of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Ireland: Lessons from other EU member states

Re-use and preparation for re-use are currently in sharp focus across the European Union's (EU) emerging legislation on waste management and the circular economy. Lifetime extension is of particular importance to electrical and electronic equipment due to the critical nature of many of the raw materials involved and their potential status as hazardous waste. During this research interviews were conducted with stakeholders in the preparation for re-use of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and Austria, where these systems are considered successful, and in Spain, the first country in the EU to have deemed preparation for re-use targets separate to those for recycling necessary. Similar interviews were conducted in Ireland, where the preparation for re-use system has not yet developed to a successful level, and factors reported to be facilitating or inhibiting the success of preparation for re-use were compared. Factors in successful preparation for re-use systems included involving social enterprise, requiring the use of quality standards, providing preparation for re-use organizations access to material at the point of end user surrender, and facilitating positive relationships between preparation for re-use organizations and the producer representative organizations organizing the waste streams. These factors were found to be largely absent in Ireland. This paper recommends these factors be supported in countries which are not yet reporting significant levels of preparation for re-use. Furthermore, where preparation for re-use had not been established practice prior to the WEEE directive, targets separate from those for recycling are recommended as necessary to align the interests of the Producer Representative Organisations and organisations which seek to promote it.