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Environmental benefits of proper WEEE management
This section looks at the impact and benefits of WEEE management.
Mining pit in south America (Chilli)
Mining trucks in the same pit
The impact on the environment
Dismantling and recycling of WEEE allows for recovery of materials and substances, therefore reducing the need to produce new materials « from scratch », i.e. from primary resources
In particular, allows to reduce the need for virgin metals production (mining), which is often a very energy-intensive and polluting activity.
Also, many elements contained in WEEE are considered scarce (e.g. precious metals, rare earth elements, etc.) and could be depleted one day. Re-use and recycling help reducing the need to extract these resources from the Earth crust.
The benefits of secondary metals production
- The production of secondary metals from scrap material is also a benefit in terms of energy. It requires much
less energy than that for primary production.
- Secondary production of metals such as gold or palladium for instance, save up to 98% of energy compared with primary production.
- Even though secondary resources production will not completely satisfy a growing demand, the potential for increasing recovery is big and should be used. This will improve the overall metal sector’s environmental impact.
- Recycling WEEE without causing any environmental impact is impossible however the impact is much smaller than the one from the respective primary production.
