Circular Resource Recovery from E-Waste (Cables)

Challenge

To enable a circular economy, exemplars of community level practice are needed, especially for complex waste like electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). As a demonstrator project, obsolete WEEE electrical cables within Ulster University were diverted from disposal with options for reuse and resource recovery explored.

Approach

An awareness campaign and general WEEE cables collection was organised for International E-Waste Day 2024. The resulting cables were sorted
and catalogued to identify value through reuse and materials recycling. Partnership with McKenzies NI recovered copper and plastic materials for sustainable reuse/remanufacturing. WEEE items were repurposed into education resource projects.

Outcomes

2.5 tonnes of WEEE were diverted from waste with recovered copper sold to primary manufacturing. Recovered plastic insulation was remanufactured into infrastructure products (traffic cones) showcasing value creation from WEEE. Internal discussions prompted procurement policy update to prevent on-site WEEE generation of both unused and end of life items.

Learnings

Education and convenience encourage participation in this responsible, sustainable WEEE disposal. Analysis of the collection revealed systemic inefficiencies with supply of unnecessary or regionally mismatched power cables, adapters etc which were diverted from disposal to reuse partners. Cost barriers to WEEE disposal can be addressed through procurement to enable manufacture take-back.

Impact

WEEE cables 12 times the height of the Empire State building were diverted from waste, with all items reused or materials recovered to enable circular manufacturing. The project motivated institutional procurement update and ignited partnerships between academics, industry, community and policy stakeholders. Craft-based WEEE education activities were developed to inspire change.