WEEE EXCHANGE NETWORKS IN THE UK

摘要

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has gained international prominence due to the vast amounts produced, its hazardous nature and illegal exports to developing countries where it is handled using crude and unsafe methods. The global profile of WEEE has further increased due to the uncertain supply and high prices of some metals critical to production of electronics and emerging technologies such as electric cars. This has cast a spotlight on recovering such metais via recycling of WEEE and value conservation via reuse. Reuse of products/materials makes best use of the inevitable initial ecological footprint caused by the manufacturing of the product or mining of the materials. The clustering of organisations into networks that exchange waste products and/or materials as by-products for their mutual benefit, a concept referred to as industrial symbiosis, helps enhance reuse. It helps reduces costs of raw material and waste disposal and diverts waste from landfill. A well-known example is the Kalundborg Industrial Symbiosis in which public and private enterprises buy and sell waste products from industrial production in a closed cycle. In Europe, the Zero Waste in Industrial Networks (ZeroWIN) project is exploring innovative strategies to prevent waste in industries based on enabling regional collaboration of enterprises from traditionally separated sectors to exchange waste as raw materials. In the UK, the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) Network enables companies to improve profitability and environmental performance by recovering and reusing materials that would otherwise be regarded as waste.