Waste management of electrical and electronic equipment

• Author: Clemm, Christan; Löw, Clara; Baron, Yifaat; Moch, Katja; Möller, Martin; Köhler, Andreas R; Gensch, Carl-Otto; Deubzer, Otmar
• Pages: 25-30

RoHS Annex II Dossier, final

Indium phosphide

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6 WASTE MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT

As described above, within the scope of RoHS, indium phosphide is used for various applications in

optoelectronics, displays and high-speed electronics. The WEEE Directive requires the separate

collection and treatment of all waste EEE falling in scope of the WEEE Directive. However, not all

WEEE is collected and the WEEE Directive specific target rates regarding collection only require

Member States to achieve a collection rate of 55% from 2016 and of 65% by 2019.64 Despite these

targets, current data suggests that these rates are still not achieved in most Member States; on the

contrary, as can be seen in Figure 6-1, in most Member States, the collection rate is considered to

be below 50%.

Figure

6-1: Total collection rate for Waste electrical and electronic equipment in 2015

as a percentage of the average weight of EEE put on the market in the

three preceding years (%)

Source:

Eurostat (2019)65

Against this background, two main scenarios have to be assessed - emissions from waste during

waste treatment and emissions of waste that is not correctly disposed of. Moreover, in the last case,

it also needs to be taken into account that incorrect disposal can occur in the form of municipal

waste, but possibly also in the open environment including uncontrolled or diffuse release into the

environment of the substance.

6.1 Description of waste streams

Indium phosphide may be contained in the following WEEE categories:

64 WEEE Directive, Article 7(1) further specifies: “From 2019, the minimum collection rate to be achieved annually shall

be 65% of the average weight of EEE placed on the market in the three preceding years in the Member State concerned,

or alternatively 85% of WEEE generated on the territory of that Member State”.

65 Eurostat (2019) https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Waste_statistics_-

_electrical_and_electronic_equipment&oldid=445263#EEE_put_on_the_market_and_WEEE_collected_in_the_EU,

last viewed 26.02.2020