Sustainability assessment of waste electric and electronic equipment management systems: Development and validation of the SUSTWEEE methodology

Waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) became an important waste stream due to its recycling potential and negative effects on the social, economic and environmental aspects. Currently, the eval-uation of WEEE management systems focus on specific parts of their lifecycle (mostly on recycling op-tions), providing information on environmental impacts and/or economic benefits. Therefore, a methodology that would address the entire WEEE lifecycle and the 3 pillars of sustainable development (environmental, economic, social) is necessary. The proposed SUSTWEEE methodology dedicated exclusively to the WEEE stream comprises a 4 level methodology, with indicators to be addressed on background information, WEEE generation, WEEE technical performance and sustainability. The tech-nical performance and sustainability aspects are evaluated on 7 main categories of indicators, both quantitative and qualitative, assessed according to 44 criteria. All the indicators went through a score allocation and a normalization step where a percentage, qualitative score and color coding were assigned, resulting in a WEEE evaluation matrix. In the validation step, the methodology was tested successfully at national level to evaluate the sustainability of WEEE management system in Romania in reference year 2014. The results obtained in this case show a rather mixed performance, with indicators in extreme situations. The main hot spots were the very low collection rates and the non-existent reuse rate, at least in official data, while the other indicators indicated at least medium performances. The best performances are in the area of WEEE collected that undergoes suitable treatment, the existence of WEEE facilities in Romania capable to perform the treatment, high recycling rate and the overall environmental performance indicator. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The evaluation of WEEE management systems focuses on recycling and environmental, economic, and social impacts, requiring a methodology that addresses the entire WEEE lifecycle and sustainable development. A study successfully tested a methodology dedicated to the WEEE stream in Romania, revealing mixed performance with low collection rates and nonexistent reuse rates being main issues.