Different ways and methodologies have been developed in order to classify waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) streams.
Current WEEE Directive Classification
In 2012, the recast EU WEEE Directive (Directive 2012/19/EU) defined a new WEEE categorisation scheme (Annex III). This scheme consists of 6 categories, that differ in the type of treatment steps that need to be performed when recycling the equipment. These categories are in use since August 15th, 2018.
- Temperature Exchange Equipment
- Screens and Monitors
- Lamps
- Large Equipment
- Small Equipment
- Small IT and Telecommunication Equipment
Obsolete WEEE Directive Classification
Until August 14th 2018, the EU WEEE Directive applied ten categories, as identified in the original 2002 EU Directive (Directive 2002/96/EC). These ten categories have been the basis of several other classification schemes like the UNU Keys.
- Large household appliances
- Small household appliances
- IT and telecommunications equipment
- Consumer equipment
- Lighting equipment
- Electrical and electronic tools
- Toys, leisure and sports equipment
- Medical devices
- Monitoring and control instruments
- Automatic dispenser
UNU-Keys
In addition to the established WEEE Categories the United Nations University (UNU) developed a further classification which comprises of 54 categories. These categories correlate to the original 10 EU WEEE Categories (the first two digits of the UNU-keys), but are further divided into superficial categories. The UNU-keys are chosen in such a way that each key describes a single product or a small range of products that have a uniform average weight, environmental relevancy and market behaviour.
Linking the WEEE Classification Systems
The above described WEEE Classification Systems can be easily linked as shown in the below table.
UNU Key | WEEE Cat. (obsolete) | WEEE Cat. (current) | UNU Key Description |
---|---|---|---|
0101 | 1 | 4 | Professional Heating & Ventilation (excl. cooling equipment) |
0102 | 1 | 4 | Dishwashers |
0103 | 1 | 4 | Kitchen (f.i. large furnaces, ovens, cooking equipment) |
0104 | 1 | 4 | Washing Machines (incl. combined dryers) |
0105 | 1 | 4 | Dryers (wash dryers, centrifuges) |
0106 | 1 | 4 | Household Heating & Ventilation (f.i. hoods, ventilators, space heaters) |
0108 | 1 | 1 | Fridges (incl. combi-fridges) |
0109 | 1 | 1 | Freezers |
0111 | 1 | 1 | Air Conditioners (household installed and portable) |
0112 | 1 | 1 | Other Cooling (f.i. dehumidifiers, heat pump dryers) |
0113 | 1 | 1 | Professional Cooling (f.i. large airconditioners, cooling displays) |
0114 | 1 | 5 | Microwaves (incl. combined, excl. grills) |
0201 | 2 | 5 | Other Small Household (f.i. small ventilators, irons, clocks, adapters) |
0202 | 2 | 5 | Food (f.i. toaster, grills, food processing, frying pans) |
0203 | 2 | 5 | Hot Water (f.i. coffee, tea, water cookers) |
0204 | 2 | 5 | Vacuum Cleaners (excl. professional) |
0205 | 2 | 5 | Personal Care (f.i. tooth brushes, hair dryers, razors) |
0301 | 3 | 6 | Small IT (f.i. routers, mice, keyboards, external drives & accessoires) |
0302 | 3 | 6 | Desktop PCs (excl. monitors, accessoires) |
0303 | 3 | 2 | Laptops (incl. tablets) |
0304 | 3 | 6 | Printers (f.i. scanners, multifunctionals, faxes) |
0305 | 3 | 6 | Telecom (f.i. (cordless) phones, answering machines) |
0306 | 3 | 6 | Mobile Phones (incl. smartphones, pagers) |
0307 | 3 | 4 | Professional IT (f.i. servers, routers, data storage, copiers) |
0308 | 3 | 2 | Cathode Ray Tube Monitors |
0309 | 3 | 2 | Flat Display Panel Monitors (LCD, LED) |
0401 | 4 | 5 | Small Consumer Electronics (f.i. headphones, remote controls) |
0402 | 4 | 5 | Portable Audio & Video (f.i. MP3, e-readers, car navigation) |
0403 | 4 | 5 | Music Instruments, Radio, HiFi (incl. audio sets) |
0404 | 4 | 5 | Video (f.i. Video recorders, DVD, Blue Ray, set-top boxes) |
0405 | 4 | 5 | Speakers |
0406 | 4 | 5 | Cameras (f.i. camcorders, foto & digital still cameras) |
0407 | 4 | 2 | Cathode Ray Tube TVs |
0408 | 4 | 2 | Flat Panel Display TVs (LCD, LED, PDP) |
0501 | 5 | 5 | Lamps (f.i. pocket, christmas, excl. LED & incandescent) |
0502 | 5 | 3 | Compact fluorescent lamps |
0503 | 5 | 3 | Straight tube fluorescent lamps |
0504 | 5 | 3 | Special (Hg, high & low pres. Na, other prof. lamps |
0505 | 5 | 3 | LED |
0506 | 5 | 5 | Luminairs (incl. HH incandescent fittings) |
0507 | 5 | 5 | Luminairs |
0601 | 6 | 5 | Tools (all HH saws, drills, cleaning, garden, etc.) |
0602 | 6 | 4 | Tools (Professional tools, excl. dual use) |
0701 | 7 | 5 | Toys (small toys, vehicles, small music) |
0702 | 7 | 6 | Game Consoles (video games and consoles) |
0703 | 7 | 4 | Toys and sund beds (exercising, large music instr.) |
0801 | 8 | 5 | Medical (small HH thermometers, blood pressure meters) |
0802 | 8 | 4 | Medical (hospital, dentist, diagnostics, etc.) |
0901 | 9 | 5 | Monitoring (alarm, heat, smoke, security, excluding screens) |
0902 | 9 | 4 | Monitoring (Prof. M&C, garage, diagnostic, etc.) |
1001 | 10 | 4 | Dispenser (non-cooled vending, coffee, tickets, etc.) |
1002 | 10 | 1 | Dispenser (cooled vending, bottles, candy, etc.) |
Source: European Commission: manual for the use of the WEEE calculation tool