Welcome to
the WEEE Forum

The WEEE Forum

Who

The WEEE Forum, founded in April 2002, is the world’s largest family of producer  responsibility organisations (PROs) that responsibly manage the take-back of electrical and  electronic waste. All fifty of them are not-for-profit and collectively they are mandated by 46,000 producers of electrical and electronic products. With members on all continents, the WEEE Forum is a for-impact e-waste knowledge centre.

Mission

Our mission is to tackle the e-waste challenge and excel in the implementation of the circularity principle. Through a sustained, gradual expansion of the membership across the world and involvement in cutting edge Circular Economy research projects, we build on our current competence, resources and framework and further deploy operational services and market intelligence that will in turn enable an impactful role in the discussions on the redesign of legislation.

Good Practice

The PROs learn from each other. Every quarter, the chief executives, operations managers and communications managers gather to discuss common challenges,  the latest developments and issues of concern. They also engage in multi-stakeholder, sectoral round- tables, such as Roundtable Batteries. These exchanges of good practice enable them to thrive.

Take-Back

Last year, the PROs in the WEEE Forum collected 3,100,000 tonnes of  end-of-use electronics, the equivalent to 310 Eiffel Towers. Over the past twenty-three years,  they collectively managed in excess of thirty million tonnes.

Front Runner

The WEEE Forum has become a front runner in the e-waste community, and a prominent and respected voice on all e-waste matters. The PROs’ knowledge of the sector allows them to create strategic alliances with decision-makers and stakeholders along the value chain, support policies, and become a source of intelligence and know-how for decision-makers.

#EWASTEDAY

Every year, on 14 October, we call on people to act responsibly regarding their broken or unused electricals. In 2024, we mobilised hundreds of organisations and partners in more than 70 countries to campaign for better e-waste management.

Research

Our involvement in grant-funded research and innovation projects allows us to advance the e-waste sector and enhance the knowledge base in terms of circular economy  business models, resource efficiency, e-waste collection systems, future availability of secondary raw materials, critical raw materials, illegal trade, standards, better circularity for digital health devices, recycling opportunities across the world, deployment of EPR in countries outside Europe, product information management systems and a whole lot more!

Tools

Proprietary portals allow the PROs to report and monitor treatment, recycling, preparation for re-use and recovery of the end-of-use products they collect (RepTool) and benchmark their operations. LibraWEEE and WEEE Directory are market intelligence platforms and, together with APPLiA and DIGITALEUROPE, the WEEE Forum founded the I4R (information for recyclers) platform: up-to-date information allowing recycling facilities to identify and responsibly manage substances of concern in products.

Standards & Conformity Verification

WEEELABEX, a project  co-financed by the EU LIFE programme which the WEEE Forum ran, gave rise to the official EN 50625 standards on collection, logistics and treatment of e-waste and the set up in Prague of the WEEELABEX Organisation that became the world’s only officially accredited certification body training auditors and issuing official certificates. Our involvement in CEWASTE, a Horizon 2020 project, was crucial in producing the world’s first normative requirements regarding recycling of critical raw materials in e-waste.  We promote a level playing field for all actors in the value chain as well as verification of conformity of processes with quality standards.

EPR

In Europe, unlike in the rest of the world, the rate of growth of the volume of e-waste that is properly treated and recycled exceeds the rate of growth of the volume of e-waste that is generated. The e-waste that is collected is also treated to higher standards than in the rest of the world. That is largely thanks to more than twenty years of Extended Producer Responsibility legislation in Europe and the PROs putting the EPR rules into practice. However, legislation must be redesigned to make it fit for purpose for new market realities. Producers and PROs are not the only actors that should be held accountable for handling e-waste; other entities on the market also collect e-waste yet do not formally report and properly treat them.

Ambition

It is the WEEE Forum’s stated strategic ambition to contribute to a thorough redesign of e-waste legislation in Europe and in the world at large, including the Global South with a view to improving its effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and added value.  Our position papers regarding EPR, Circular Economy, Critical Raw Materials, the 65% collection target, recycled content, e-waste f lows, eco-modulation, visible fee, online free-riding and much, much more are available on the WEEE Forum website.