WEEE treatment

After being collected in the special recycling bins, all electrical and electronic devices as well as lamps and ink and toner cartridges are transported to twelve licensed treatment units, which are contracted to Appliances Recycling S.A. and are located in key points throughout the country.

These units are licensed and certified under the strictest specifications for the environmental management of WEEE. Thus, in an absolutely environmentally proper manner, the units take on the treatment of the devices following specialized steps, which depend on the category in which they belong. The main stages in the treatment units are the following: receipt and weighing of loads, unloading of WEEE from the trucks, classification of WEEE according to the type of device, temporary storage in the factory premises, disassembling of WEEE and recovery of components that contain hazardous substances.

What follows is the mechanical treatment of the WEEE in mechanical units, the recovery of the processing fractions, the storage of the hazardous materials and their further management by appropriately licensed companies. After the treatment of the old devices is completed, their usable materials return as raw material for the production of new products. The recovered iron is forwarded to Greek steel mills. Glass and plastic are forwarded to the respective Greek and foreign industries.

In the hierarchy of waste management, reuse precedes recycling, as this practice allows the extension of the products’ life and prevents the creation of waste. For this reason, Appliances Recycling S.A. participated as a coordinator in the European Electrical Waste Reuse Program Life ReWeee. There are two specialized centers, one in Aspropyrgos, Attica, and another in Oreokastro, Thessaloniki, where the devices left by citizens in the Appliances Recycling S.A. bins arrive, are checked, classified according to their condition and prepared for reuse or transported for treatment if they are considered to be unsuitable for use.

The following diagram shows the WEEE treatment process: