Recycling & Recovery is the final step in the product's lifecycle.
Why are these important?
Circularity is a key target to EU policymakers, the industry and many citizens. For this reason, we need to make sure that valuable products, materials and resources are maintained in the economy for as long as possible, that the generation of waste is minimised, and that long lasting products, sharing, digitalisation, as well as resource recovery become the standard.
Discover how we do this!
Home appliance industry
by the numbers
Did you know
that...
Zoom in on the home appliance sector
6,3 million
tonnes of materials placed on the market
3,8 million
tonnes appliances collected annually
3,7 million
tonnes of materials recovered annually
2,5 Mt of WEEE from
large home appliances
1,5 Mt of WEEE from
small home appliances
1,4 Mt of WEEE from
cooling & freezing
5,4 Mt of WEEE from
other
EEE
in 2020
Context data
2,8 Mt
reported by Member States as collected & recycled
0,31 Mt
estimated to end up in the waste bin
1 Mt
mixed with metal scraps
1,1 Mt
gap
Secondary raw materials: how much do you know?
The home appliance industry contributes to circularity by providing secondary raw materials back into many manufacturing material flows. When appliances come to the end of their life, they are discarded, collected and treated and the materials are recovered for a second life.
Materials recovered are used not only in producing new home appliances, but also in other products of sectors and industries.
The sector is continuously working at innovative solutions to phase out hazardous substances from their products, to facilitate recycling processes and use of secondary raw materials. But more work needs to be done to ensure that the growth of the secondary raw materials market and chemicals legislation can work together.
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