Luxembourg at the forefront of WEEE processing in Europe

Ecotrel
Type of organisation or company
Country
Luxembourg
City
Belvaux
Language for original content
Project elaborated in partnership
No
Submitted by
Paul Rasqué
Start/End date
Ongoing
Yes
Type of funding
Ecotrel - Andy Maxant
Description

Ecotrel is a non-profit association of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) importers which supports the collection and recycling of EEE throughout Luxembourg in line with the EU directives concerning respectively the waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and the restricted use of certain hazardous substances in EEE.

In Luxembourg, customers pay a recycling fee when they buy a new electrical or electronic appliance. This fee is used to finance the collection and treatment of WEEE coming back to municipal waste disposal centres and to ensure that the purchased appliance will also be collected and recycled professionally in future.

Ecotrel has also launched the idea of a "circularity and solidarity cluster" of business and social enterprises, which take back WEEE in order to re-use, disassemble or recycle it. The cluster aims at responding to the demands of professionals who want to dispose properly of their information and telecommunication equipment at the end of its life cycle, and also to the needs of private citizens who wish to delete all personal data from their laptops and smartphones before giving them away.

Main results

Currently, over 600 companies of different sizes and from different sectors are affiliated to Ecotrel and contribute with their funding to improve the environment in which we live.

So far 3 business enterprises (computers, waste management, data protection) and 5 social enterprises (Caritas, advice and assistance to job seekers, digital inclusion, social actions) have joined the circularity and solidarity cluster.