Environmental impact caused by the waste of electrical and electronic equipment: an italian scenario

Abstract

Nowadays, some of the highest amounts of waste is caused by the waste ofelectrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The main reasons are related tothe increasing demand in consumption and in reducing the life of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Our paper focuses on a case study which aims to develop a quantitative analysis of the WEEE flow based on a scenario implemented by an Italian collector from the Emilia Romagna region, specifically the city of Bologna. Thisscenario was evaluated based on the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, in terms of environmental and human health impacts,using the CML2001 and ReCiPe methods, available in GaBi software tool. Following the LCA software application, the impacts generated by the proposed scenario highlighted a negative influence especially on Fossil Fuel Depletion, Marine Ecotoxicity Potential and Global Warming Potential. It was found that the amount of generated emissions causeshighimpacts to material resources and fresh waters