Each year millions of tonnes of WEEE is generated in the EU, but only 30% is reported as properly collected and recycled. The Critical Raw Materials Closed Loop Recovery Project aims to increase the recovery of target CRMs by 5% by 2020 and by 20% by 2030. With this in mind the project has invested in trials exploring novel ways of boosting the collection and recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from household waste electrical and electronic products (WEEE). Held across the UK, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic, the collection trials mechanisms included retailer take-back schemes; reuse containers at household waste recycling centres, business collections, university drop-off hubs, school collections and other collection events. Find out more: http://www.criticalrawmaterialrecovery.eu/schools-and-parents-join-forces

1. The LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
COLLECTION, CREATIVTY AND COLLABORATION
– A ROUTE TO WEEE REUSE
Each year millions of tonnes of WEEE is generated in the EU, but only 30% is reported
as properly collected and recycled. The Critical Raw Materials Closed Loop Recovery
Project aims to increase the recovery of target CRMs by 5% by 2020 and by 20% by
2030.
With this in mind the project has invested in trials exploring novel ways of boosting the
collection and recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) from household waste
electrical and electronic products (WEEE).
Held across the UK, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic, the collection trials
mechanisms included retailer take-back schemes; reuse containers at household waste
recycling centres, business collections, university drop-off hubs, school collections and
other collection events.
Schools and parents join forces
One such trial involved Re-Tek (an ICT Asset Management organisation based in East
Kilbride) and Enscape Consulting (a specialist consultancy based in Aberdeenshire and
Stirling) joining forces with Strathdon Primary School in Aberdeenshire to undertake a
collection trial where pupils and parents identified and donated household WEEE items
that were no longer used. Strathdon is a small, rural school with around 30 pupils and
has limited access to other reuse/ recycling routes for unwanted electrical/ electronic
equipment.

2. The LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
The trial process
Trial results in numbers
Targetted WEEE
Household
WEEE items
commonly no
longer used and
found stored
away in
drawers,
cupboards, etc,
Functional ICT -
inc. PCs, set
top boxes,
laptops, tablets,
cameras, flat
screen
monitors, TVs,
printers.
Promotion
Parent letters
summarising
project needs
and objectives.
Enscape
Consulted
delivered
workshops tp
pupils outlining
WEEE issues
Collection
Re-Tek installed a
collection container for the
unwanted WEEE which
was placed at the school
for 2 months.
Donated equioment collected
and processed by Re-Tek.
Equipment unsuitable for re-use
was either recycled via the
University of the West of
Scotland's CRM recovery trial
or through Re-Tek’s accredited
recycling partners.
42
items
collected
124
kgs WEEE
collected
34
people
donated
25%
re-use rate
£46
re-use
value

3. The LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
Trial impacts and learnings
- There was a high level of participation and buy-in to the scheme.
- Pupils are now much more aware of the need to dispose of equipment safely and
responsibly.
- Donated laptops were typically older and unsuitable for reuse, indicating that even
in very motivated communities, there is still a tendency to hoard equipment
- Compared to the other collection model activities carried out by Re-Tek, schools
received the highest quantities of data-bearing devices (laptops and mobile phones).
This may indicate higher levels of trust that data would be kept secure, and a desire
to donate their equipment to support local community initiatives
- Many pupils commented that parents often “handed down” equipment, which may
also explain why older equipment was donated to the scheme.
Pupil feedback
“I’m going to help the project by donating in my old devices so the project can try to get
the gold and silver out of it for future use.”
“My favourite part was taking apart all the phones, iPads, tablets and computers and
cameras. I liked the fact that there is 300 parts in a phone or computer. I also found it
interesting that there is silver and gold inside phones.”

4. The LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
Benefits
Economic and Environmental – through funding provided the CRM Recovery project, a
scalable process of WEEE collection has been demonstrated, with an average of 4.13kg
of WEEE was collected by each pupil. If this average was extrapolated to cover all
school pupils in Scotland (an estimated 684,415 in 2016) it would equate to around 2.8
million kg of WEEE collected.
Societal - following the successful campaign instigated by the CRM Recovery project, the
school was keen to continue their collections. They joined forces with the Forest View
Centre in Stonehaven (a facility that supports adults with learning difficulties to gain
work experience and opportunities) and through this centre’s new IdeAtek project, they
will continue providing collections to the school and will consolidate equipment for
subsequent pick-up and processing by Re-Tek.
Educational – some of items collected by the CRM Recovery trial were used by the
school to progress their ‘Flashes of Genius’ project. Pupils dismantle everyday electrical
objects and then use their imagination to create a new product or machine that would
help the world to combat waste and climate change.