Environmental performance of waste electrical and electronic equipment plastic recycling based on life cycle assessment

There is a significant global rise in the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). This waste typically contains more than 20% plastic, which can have significant environmental benefits if properly treated and recycled. However, recycling plastics from WEEE is a challenging task due to the complexity of the waste composition, which consists of several polymers, many of which contain heavy metals, additives, and brominated flame retardants. This study presents both technical and environmental concerns in the resource recovery of WEEE plastics. Based on results of a prior research on the composition of waste electrical and electronic plastics (WEEP) in Finland, this study assess the environmental impacts associated with the recovery of WEEP by comparing four technically available WEEP treatment methods: energy recovery (incineration), mechanical recycling of composite plastics, mechanical recycling for separated polymers, and chemical recycling by pyrolysis. This study concludes that mechanical recycling with plastic separation has the best environmental performance among the presented scenarios for all selected impact categories except for the acidification potential impact category. The substitution ratio of virgin plastics and the efficiency of the pyrolysis process were the primary factors contributing to the environmental impacts of WEEP treatment options.