Improving the Loops of Plastics in Electronics conference paper
Introduction
At the IERC 2022 conference in Salzburg, BSEF organised a workshop examining the challenges and opportunities associated with recycling plastics from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Presentations and a roundtable discussion brought together perspectives on brominated flame retardants (BFRs), regulatory thresholds and technologies for removing hazardous substances from WEEE plastics.
Following the workshop, EERA prepared Improving the Loops of Plastics in Electronics to summarise the principal observations and proposals emerging from the discussion. The paper focused on a central challenge: how to increase the amount of WEEE plastics returned to productive use while reducing the circulation and dispersion of restricted POP BFRs.
The discussion identified several interconnected priorities, including improving WEEE collection, recovering a wider range of polymers, developing new sorting technologies, strengthening cooperation between producers and recyclers, and creating a more stable regulatory framework for recycled plastics.
Stopping the leakage of POP BFRs from WEEE
The workshop identified WEEE collection as a critical intervention point for reducing the dispersion of restricted POP BFRs. The paper reported that approximately 55% of WEEE plastics entered official collection channels. Of the BFR-containing plastics collected through these channels, 98% were separated and properly disposed of, while only 2% continued into recycled plastics at concentrations below the applicable POP UTC, REACH and RoHS thresholds at the time.
The larger concern was therefore material outside the official system. According to the paper, 55% of BFR-containing plastics generated did not enter official WEEE collection and recycling routes. These plastics entered residual waste, complementary treatment routes focused mainly on metal recovery or flows where their subsequent management was unknown.
The workshop therefore argued that reducing POP BFR leakage required more WEEE to enter controlled collection and treatment channels, where restricted substances could be identified, separated and appropriately managed. This placed collection performance alongside treatment quality as a central element of controlling POP BFRs in WEEE plastics.
Why better WEEE collection matters
Improving collection was presented as essential to creating a more circular system for WEEE plastics. The paper argued that plastics cannot be effectively sorted, recycled or cleared of restricted POP BFRs if discarded electrical and electronic equipment does not first enter official WEEE collection and treatment channels.
The workshop therefore placed responsibility across the value chain. Authorities, producers and their Extended Producer Responsibility take-back systems, recyclers and consumers all had a role in increasing WEEE return rates. The measures discussed included public awareness campaigns, financial mechanisms linked to purchasing and incentives encouraging consumers to return end-of-life equipment through appropriate collection systems.
Better collection would serve two objectives simultaneously: directing more plastics towards recycling and ensuring that plastics containing restricted substances entered controlled treatment routes. The workshop therefore treated higher collection rates as the foundation for both greater plastics circularity and more effective management of POP BFRs.
Increasing plastics recycling from WEEE
The workshop identified the recovery of a wider range of technical polymers as essential to increasing plastics recycling from WEEE. Established processes already recovered significant quantities of lower-density plastics such as PE, PP, ABS and PS, but the paper noted that the proportion of these materials in WEEE had been decreasing over time.
Further growth would therefore depend on recovering polymers that were largely being lost from the recycling process, including polyamide (PA), filled PP, PMMA and polycarbonate (PC). These materials occur in higher-density fractions that overlap with the density range of brominated plastics, making conventional density separation increasingly difficult.
The paper highlighted alternative technologies under development, including near-infrared and medium-infrared sorting, X-ray transmission, X-ray fluorescence and solvent-based techniques. Recovering these polymers could also require additional sorting, washing, purification, quality control and compounding before recycled material was ready for use in new products.
The workshop therefore linked higher WEEE plastics recycling rates to the industry's ability to move beyond the polymers already recovered commercially and develop viable processes for more complex plastic fractions.
Recovering plastics from higher-density fractions
The paper identified higher-density WEEE plastics as an important opportunity for increasing recycling rates. Polymers such as PA, PMMA, mineral-filled PP and PC occur at densities of approximately 1.1–1.3 g/cm³, overlapping with brominated plastics, which the paper placed at around 1.14–1.40 g/cm³. This overlap limits the effectiveness of conventional density separation.
Recovering these polymers therefore requires more sophisticated separation technologies. The workshop highlighted techniques including near-infrared and medium-infrared sorting, X-ray transmission, X-ray fluorescence and solvent-based processes. These technologies could enable recyclers to distinguish valuable non-brominated polymers from BFR-containing plastics within the denser fractions.
The paper emphasised that recovery involves more than sorting. New recycling processes may require washing, purification, quality control and compounding before the recovered polymers can be converted into formulated pellets suitable for manufacturing new products.
Expanding recovery into these more complex fractions was therefore presented as a key route towards maintaining and ultimately increasing the proportion of WEEE plastics returned to productive use.
Producer-recycler collaboration and innovation
The workshop emphasised that developing new recycling processes for WEEE plastics requires close collaboration between recyclers and electronics producers. Recovering additional polymers from complex WEEE fractions involves investment in technology, technical expertise and time, while the resulting recycled materials must also meet the specifications required for use in new products.
The paper highlighted the PolyCE project as an example of collaboration between stakeholders across the plastics value chain, which produced guidelines to support the use of recycled plastics in electrical and electronic equipment. It also referred to the NONTOX project as a multi-stakeholder initiative developing technologies for recovering plastics from contaminated waste streams.
Such innovation was described as a long-term process. The paper noted that developing new recycling technologies could typically take five years or more, requiring sustained access to know-how, capital and suitable material streams.
The workshop therefore saw stronger producer-recycler partnerships as a means of connecting recycling technology with demand for recycled polymers, helping recovered WEEE plastics move beyond treatment and become feedstock for new electrical and electronic products.
Stable and consistent substance thresholds
The workshop identified regulatory stability as an important condition for investment in WEEE plastics recycling. Recyclers operate at the interface between waste and product legislation, particularly when treated waste reaches end-of-waste status and becomes a secondary raw material. The paper argued that different rules and thresholds for the same substances created complexity and uncertainty across this transition.
The discussion therefore called for greater consistency in how substances were assessed throughout the material cycle, referring to the EU's “One Substance, One Assessment” approach. The paper argued that a more coherent framework would make it easier to keep recycled materials in circulation while ensuring that restricted substances were appropriately managed.
Particular attention was given to the Low POP Content thresholds for BFRs under discussion in 2022. Participants expressed concern that reducing these thresholds could subsequently place pressure on Unintentional Trace Contaminant thresholds applicable to recycled materials, potentially affecting investment and innovation in WEEE plastics recycling.
The workshop's central argument was therefore not against controlling restricted substances. It called for clear, consistent and stable thresholds that enabled restricted BFRs to be removed while providing recyclers with sufficient regulatory certainty to develop new processes and expand European recycling capacity.
Building a circular loop for WEEE plastics
The paper set out an ideal circular pathway for plastics from electrical and electronic equipment, connecting WEEE collection, recycling and the manufacture of new products. It identified three main stages: separate and controlled collection of WEEE, production of recycled materials, and production of new articles using those materials.
At the collection stage, the paper called for greater consumer awareness, stronger enforcement and effective take-back systems to ensure that more WEEE entered controlled recycling channels. It also highlighted the importance of designing electrical and electronic products with their eventual recyclability in mind.
For recyclers, the next step was to transform collected WEEE plastics into secondary raw materials suitable for manufacturing. The paper highlighted the importance of appropriate end-of-waste arrangements and a regulatory framework capable of managing hazardous substances while enabling recovered materials to circulate.
Closing the loop ultimately depended on manufacturers using these recovered materials in new products. The paper therefore called for stronger alliances between WEEE recyclers and EEE manufacturers to increase the use of post-consumer recycled plastics from WEEE in new electrical and electronic equipment.
The model presented circularity as a shared value-chain responsibility, rather than an outcome that recyclers could achieve independently.
Key conclusions
The IERC 2022 workshop concluded that improving the circularity of WEEE plastics required action across the entire plastics loop, rather than focusing on recycling technology alone. Higher collection rates were considered fundamental because they would bring more WEEE into controlled treatment channels, where restricted BFRs could be separated and recyclable plastics recovered.
At the same time, increasing recycling rates required new technologies capable of recovering a wider range of polymers, particularly from higher-density fractions where valuable plastics overlap with brominated materials. Developing these processes would require investment, technical expertise and closer collaboration between recyclers and producers.
The workshop also stressed the importance of a clearer, simpler and more stable regulatory framework. In particular, participants called for stable thresholds for restricted BFRs, simpler rules for shipments of WEEE plastics, especially within the EU, and legislation that encouraged investment in recycling capacity and innovation.
The central message was that closing the loop for WEEE plastics depended on combining effective collection, high-quality recycling, technological innovation, producer-recycler cooperation and regulatory certainty.
About the conference paper
Improving the Loops of Plastics in Electronics was prepared by EERA in January 2022 following a WEEE plastics workshop organised by BSEF during the IERC 2022 conference in Salzburg. The workshop combined presentations on BFRs, regulatory thresholds and recycling technologies with a roundtable discussion.
EERA prepared the paper to summarise the key observations, conclusions and proposals emerging from the workshop. The notes were shared with and reviewed by several participants before publication.
The paper reflects the discussions and regulatory context of January 2022, particularly regarding POP BFR thresholds and the development of WEEE plastics recycling at that time.
Read the original paper
Read the original Improving the Loops of Plastics in Electronics conference paper for the full summary of the WEEE plastics workshop at IERC 2022, including the discussion on collection, POP BFRs, recycling technologies, regulatory thresholds and closing the loop between WEEE recyclers and EEE manufacturers.
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