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Case Study on Environmental Impacts of the SWICO System: 1. Introduction

In 1993 the Swiss Association for Information, Communication and Organization Technology (SWICO), the association of manufacturers and importers of office electronics - and IT - equipment in Switzerland, created its take-back system for electronic waste. When the system came into force in 1994, only office electronics - and IT - equipment were covered. The subsequent years saw the inclusion of mobile telephones, equipment used in the graphics industry, telephones and telephone switchboard systems, as well as consumer electronics.

The SWICO take-back system is financed by an Advanced Recycling Fee (ARF). SWICO created a regulation that outlines the prerequisites for the recycling companies to be commissioned for the system. The companies that satisfy these are granted a license to process the electronic scrap taken back by the system. These companies - 15 by the end of 2002 - are continually monitored by an independent control organization, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA). Among other tasks, EMPA annually collects and evaluates the data related to the material flows entering and leaving the licensed recycling companies, which are induced by the electronic scrap taken back in the SWICO system. In figure 1, the material flows for the year 2002 are shown (SWICO 2003).

 

 

Figure 1Material flows in the SWICO system for the year 2002

The following study by EMPA is intended to provide initial answers to questions related to the environmental impacts of the SWICO system by establishing an LCA of the actual material flows induced by the SWICO take-back system. In particular, the processes making the most relevant contribution to the environmental impacts of the SWICO system are identified and a comparison made with the environmental impacts of the respective primary production process.

 

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