What is e-waste?
E-products is perhaps a better way to refer to them because they are certainly not waste. In fact, they often contain valuable materials like plastic and precious metals including gold, silver, platinum, nickel, zinc, aluminium and copper. These materials can easily be recovered and recycled into something new, which prevents electronics being made from new or ‘virgin’ materials. Recycling your old electronics keeps these materials in use in the circular economy and out of landfills.
How are electronic products recycled?
As with any product, we encourage everyone to reduce, reuse, and repair before recycling. Electronics collected for recycling are generally manually disassembled and assorted into various components. These individual materials such as cabling, circuit boards, glass, metals, and plastics are then processed so they can be used in the production of new products.
Learn about electronic product recycling schemes
Electronics can also contain toxic and hazardous materials. It is therefore important they are handled, recycled, and disposed of in a regulated and responsible manner. Product Stewardship Schemes work to minimise the health and environmental impact of a product over its entire lifecycle, from design, production, distribution, sale and use to disposal, recovery, reuse and recycling. Schemes for electrical products include:
