Waste electrical and electronics equipment: do new regulations promote sustainability?

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is a priority waste stream within the EU. This had led to the introduction of many new legislative requirements covering the treatment of such items as waste, whether it is re-use, recycling or final disposal. These regulations were introduced to promote a sustainability agenda when dealing with WEEE, but in many cases may have been counter-productive. This article demonstrates the ways in which this has occurred using refrigeration units as an example, in terms of reporting requirements under the introduced legislation, transport and handling, and economic and social sustainability issues surrounding the markets for such items and their components