LAUSR

Abstract Circular economy (CE) is considered an alternative for today’s linear business model, and a lifeline to sustainable production and consumption. However, the lack of understanding of the true potentials for CE in many business sectors remains a challenge. In this study, we investigate the potential for reuse and recycling – the two key pathways promoted by CE – for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) management. We empirically characterize household WEEE stream in order to explore a) the remaining functionality and reuse potential of end-of-life (EoL) products based on the current market conditions, and b) the recycling potential of EoL products based on their material compositions and existing WEEE treatment chain. For this, a total of 4704 kg WEEE within the collection fractions of ‘small appliances’ and ‘monitors’ was collected in 16 collection cages from eight civic amenity sites in Odense, Denmark. After determining the categorical distribution, all products were inspected individually and their functionality was tested. Further, selected products were dismantled in order to determine their material composition. Building on this investigation, the potential revenues from resale as well as from material recovery were estimated. With 22% and 7% of fully functional products in the fractions ‘small appliances’ and ‘monitors’ respectively, our results suggest resale value up to €247 per cage of the collected household WEEE. The existing WEEE management system, which focuses only on material recovery, does not exploit other EoL options. A better system designed to reclaim the remaining functionality and tailored material recovery from the EoL products thus has a large potential for increased revenue.