A systematic end-of-life management approach for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) are one of the fastest growing waste streams in the EU. It is expected to grow to more than 12 million tons by 2020. Moreover, WEEE is a complex mixture of materials and components which include hazardous and high-value materials [1]. If it is not properly managed WEEE can cause major environmental problems and huge waste of material resources. In this paper, a systematic end-of-life (EoL) management approach has been developed to handle WEEE with the environment and economic considerations. The developed approach is capable to find out the optimal selective disassembly sequence and the best EoL Type options for each component with a maximum profit and meet the requirements of the WEEE and Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directives. It also can help designers make optimal decisions while designing a product considering EoL recycling rate and profit. An industrial case study on Liquid Crystal Display Televisions (LCD-TVs) of the type LC24F4 is performed to validate the developed approach.