The Benefits of e-waste recycling in The Netherlands

The benefits of e-waste recycling in The Netherlands was studied for the year 2009 using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Avoided greenhouse gas emissions from material recovery of all collected e-waste and the destruction of (H)CFC containing coolants from cooling and freezing appliances were calculated using the IPCC 2007 method. In 2009, about 73,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents were avoided due to material recovery out of e-waste. The removal and destruction of (H)CFCs from Cooling and Freezing appliances led to the avoidance of greenhouse gases of approximately 530,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents. The monitoring which started after completion of the study show that the avoided greenhouse gases from material recycling increased from 73,000 tonnes in 2009 to 89 000 tonnes in 2010 and 104 000 tonnes in 2011 due to the fact that more e-waste was collected and investments have been made by the recycling companies to retrieve more material. The phase out of (H)CFC´s from cooling and freezing appliances led to a decrease from 520,000 tonnes in 2009 to 400,000 tonnes in 2010 but increased to 500,000 tonnes in 2011. The investments done by recyclers to retrieve more (H)CFC´s out of CF may be an explanation for this increase.