What are the environmental benefits of increasing the WEEE treatment in France?

Abstract

In France is estimated a generation of about 17 and 23 kg per year of WEEE per inhabitant. However, in 2014, the return rate for household WEEE reached only 38% of the total market input. The French regulation targets higher collection rates for the next years: 45% between 2016 and 2019, and 65% after 2019 of the total market input. The aim of this work was to quantify the real environmental benefits of improving the collection and treatment of WEEE in France by the life cycle assessment methodology. A mobile phone charger was selected as a case study, and three scenarios were assessed based on the actual collection rate and the future collection and recycling targets. For most impact categories, mainly due to the intensification on energy consumption and transport activities related to the recycling processes, the growth in collection rate leads to higher environmental impacts. However, when comparing the impact of end-of-life with the production of virgin materials, the benefits of increasing collection rates and recycling are evident.