Browsing by Subject "waste electrical and electronic equipment"

E-waste (WEEE) is a significant source of Critical Raw Materials, which are materials that EU has deemed to be extremely important for its industry and at risk of supply disruption. However, the recycling rate from WEEE for most of these materials is very low, which is in direct contradiction to EU’s Circular Economy goals and industrial strategy. The goal of this thesis is to identify the shortcomings of EU WEEE legislation in promoting the circular use of CRMs, and then pinpoint the most critical issues that the legislation should pay attention to in order to improve the situation. The method used in the work is regulatory theory. The thesis finds that the current WEEE legislation is based around the previous generation of waste management issues, e.g. landfill capacity concerns, and does not take into account properly the current challenges of material efficiency and circularity. Improving the recycling rate of CRMs will require targeted legislative and policy action in key parts of the life cycle of electronics.