The purpose of this study is to provide environmentally sound management on the import of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEEs) by investigating the hazardous elements, and the hazardous characteristics thereof, in this waste, and by reviewing the extant criteria causing them to exhibit an Annex III characteristic on Basel Convention. The investigation of imported WEEEs found that the importing volume has gradually increased since 2009 and 95.9% of imported WEEEs, which are mainly classified as Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and its scrap in 2015, is designated as restriction wastes. Also, it is important to designate and unify the hazardous element list and the characteristics of WEEEs because the analytical items and their test methods submitted in the test report are designated differently for each local authority. We confirmed that three kinds of criteria are applied to determine whether the target wastes are hazardous or not: the content criteria for 8 kinds of elements on import bans of wastes, the content criteria for 8 kinds of elements sufficient for allowing wastes to be imported, and the leaching criteria for 13 kinds of elements to classified as a specified waste. Among them, five elements (hexavalent chromium, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury) are managed for the WEEEs in Korea. Therefore, it is necessary to catalog the total contents of hazardous chemicals caused by hazardous characteristics of other elements (beryllium, antimony, etc.), as can happen to WEEEs.

In this study we conducted a material flow analysis (MFA) of the four major types of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), namely refrigerators, TV sets, washing machines, and air conditioners, based on the most reliable data available from the Eco-Assurance System, other governmental sources, the literature, a field survey, and interviews. A MFA of six major components, iron, copper, aluminum, plastics, precious metals, and rare metals was also conducted. The estimated total generation of WEEE in 2013 amounted to 401.8 thousand tons, of which 3.8% (or, approximately 5% including printed circuit boards) was exported and 55.0% was recycled. The collection by the formal take-back system occupied 34.6% of the total generation, from which 83.9% was recovered as valuables. The six major components amounted to 299.7 thousand tons, among which 89.8% of iron, 91.4% of copper, 56.0% of aluminum, 27.1% of plastics, 37.1% of precious metals, and 6.2% of rare metals were recovered. A high positive correlation was found between the amount of WEEE flowing into the private recycling business and its economic value. Since the recovery ratio in the private sector was estimated to be much lower, while the potential environmental impact was higher, an optimal strategy was identified to enhance the collection by the public sector. Providing economic incentives should be an effective means to encourage private collection through the formal take-back system.

Environmental regulations on the management of waste electrical and electronic equipments (WEEE) have been strengthened in many developed countries. Improper management and disposal of such waste, especially in informal sectors, may pose serious threats to the environment and human health. In Korea, there are very few available statistical data regarding distribution flow and treatment of WEEE in informal sectors (i.e., unreported private collection and recycling facilities). In order to provide additional measures related to proper management of WEEE, there is an urgent need for a quantitative material flow study on the amount of the waste found in the sectors. This can be achieved by conducting a statistical analysis of the flow of WEEE in the sectors and by drawing significant results and implications of such analysis. In this study, the relevant data were collected from literature review and a number of field site visits to informal private collection and recycling sites with survey in Daejoen Metropolitan City. Statistical analysis of the survey related to the distribution of WEEE in informal sectors was conducted to determine the quantitative flow of WEEE in the sectors. According to the results of this study, 3.38 kg/person/year were introduced into informal sectors in 2013, while 2.48 kg/ person/year was recycled in formal sectors in 2012. This study implies that there are significant amounts of WEEE that are present and processed in the sectors, which are not regulated by government. Small private collectors of WEEE in informal sectors received approximately 60.6 unit/month on average. The results of this statistical study indicate that there are no significant differences among the factors such as the amount of treatment, the number of employee, and the degree of dismantle process. However, there is significant difference among the WEEE category large home appliance, small-sized home appliance, and audio-video equipment. Further study may be warranted to focus the flow of WEEE in informal sectors in more large scale in order to accurately determine the final destination and disposal of such waste in the environment.

Global increase in the demand for the new Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) results in the rapid increase of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (or electronic waste). Significant efforts on developing diverse WEEE recycling policy and programs such as extended producer responsibility (EPR), WEEE directive, and the restriction of the use of hazardous substances (RoHS) directive are being made by many developed nations. This study focuses on determining priority among proposed WEEE recycling policy research projects by a number of experts from academia, institutions and recycling industry using quality function deployment (QFD) method to better manage and recycle WEEE in Korea. In order to develop effective WEEE recycling policy, a total of 12 different WEEE recycling policy research projects were proposed by a total of 11 experts related WEEE recycling. Reliability and validity evaluation of the proposed projects were conducted, along with SPSS statistical software. By using the QFD method, a survey regarding potential problems, suggestions, and difficulties at several WEEE recycling facilities were conducted and evaluated. Evaluation of the proposed projects was made by house of quality (HOQ). In this study, proposed research projects with higher importance index include WEEE collection system, development of WEEE recycling guideline, and establishment of WEEE generation/collection/recycling national database. The QFD method employed in this study can be effectively used as a decision-making process tool in WEEE recycling policy and road map.

The development of recycling technology and process of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), also called electronic waste is becoming a growing interest in the world from the perspective of material recovery and resource conservation. In this study we examined the recycling technology levels of WEEE by both group category and recycling process using expert surveys. Based on the results of the expert surveys conducted, the level of large home appliances was found to be approximately 81.1% (± 6.2% std) when compared with that of the advanced countries, while small home appliances and IT equipment and audio/video equipment were 73.5% (± 6.2% std) and 76.2% (± 6.2% std), respectively. In case of recycling pre-treatment process (e.g., disassembly, size reduction, and separation), the technological levels was found to be approximately 82.2%, while the material recovery process followed by the pretreatment process was estimated to be approximately 68.5%. The results of reliability test for the expert survey showed that the values of coefficient of variation (CV) for the pre-treatment process and material recovery process by group category and recycling process are less than 0.5, which is a guidance limit for the coefficient. Based on the statistical tests (ANOVA and t-test), there is no significant difference of the recycling technological levels among the group category (large home appliances, small home appliances, IT equipment, and audio/video equipment. However, the statistical difference between the pre-treatment process and material recovery process within the group category existed (p-value < 0.05) using t-test. In this study, the results imply that there is still a need for developing a variety of more advanced recycling technologies of WEEE to effectively recover valuable metals and materials from it, especially in the fields of metal recovery and extraction processes.