Treasure trove: e-waste

Not even half of this e-waste ends up being recycled. As a result, valuable materials built into printers, laptops and the like are lost and cannot be reused. At the same time, the demand for these raw materials is increasing because more and more electrical appliances are manufactured. What can we do – together and individually – to avoid producing e-waste?

Projects and examples

Recycling electrical appliances

Newspapers go into the bin for wastepaper, cucumber peels into the organic waste. And what about our e-waste? It often ends up on the streets or in backyards. It doesn’t belong there any more than it does in the household waste. The easiest way to dispose of old appliances is at the recycling centre. Online portals such as elektroschrott.de show the locations of the nearest recycling centres. However, they’re not always easy to reach or they have only very limited opening hours. Since 2016, electrical appliances can also be dropped off directly at larger shops or mail-order companies. If a shop has more than 400 square feet of retail or warehouse space, it’s required to take back smaller electronic devices, such as razors or smartphones, free of charge. In the case of larger appliances the rule is: e-waste in exchange for new goods. If you buy a refrigerator in the shop, then the shop is obliged to take the old one off your hands for free.

Deposits for smartphones and other devices

Not even one in two electrical appliances is recycled. A deposit on electronic goods could change that. When buying a new product, consumers would pay a sum of money that they’d get back when they returned the no-longer-used item. The amount of the deposit could be based on the value of the device. Another proposal was discussed in the Bundestag back in 2012: for each smartphone, customers should pay a fixed sum of ten euros as deposit. But money isn’t always the solution: another idea would be to make new devices available only to those who return an old one beforehand.

The Shiftphone

Individual manufacturers have taken the idea of a deposit into their own hands. The German company SHIFT GmbH produces smartphones sustainably and designs the devices in such a way that customers can repair them themselves. If you send a broken “Shiftphone” to the company, it will return the 22-euro deposit. The in-house workshop then tries to recondition the device. If it’s no longer salvageable, the phone is disassembled: components that are still working are kept for reuse, while defective ones are recycled.

(for Shiftphone_2) The “Shiftphone” comes with a certificate of deposit. Photo: SHIFT GmbH

Recycling exchanges

Recycling exchanges are places where people can drop off appliances that still work but are no longer needed. These mostly non-profit organisations refurbish the donated items and sell them for a small price. This not only protects the environment, but also has other good effects: the jobs in the recycling exchanges are a chance for the long-term unemployed to get back into the job market. The second-hand goods offered at reasonable prices are affordable for people on low incomes.

Simply do it yourself

Smartphones or computers not only contain numerous valuable raw materials, but their production also requires a lot of energy. In addition, they’re often transported long distances from the factory to the shop. Therefore, the best solution would be to increase the service lives of such devices. For users it’s worthwhile to buy appliances that are robust and easy to repair – and not everything needs to be state-of-the-art. Those who don’t know how to use a soldering iron and wrench on their own can visit repair cafés and workshops open to everyone. Volunteer experts are available there to help with repairing defective devices.