The document summarizes trials conducted as part of the LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project, which aims to increase the recovery of critical raw materials from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the EU. Three collection methods were trialled in Germany: 1) A "Re-Use Olympics" competition between secondary schools that collected over 100kg of reusable devices, 2) "Re-Boxes" provided to households for reusable items including small WEEE, and 3) Adding WEEE collection to existing "Re-Bag" clothing donation programs. The trials helped test scalable collection methods and collected over 2,900kg of devices, around 150kg of which were reusable. Expanding the school competition across Germany could potentially collect

1. The LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
Three ways to get great WEEE recycling results
Each year millions of tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is
generated in the EU, but only 30% is reported as properly collected and recycled. The
Critical Raw Materials (CRM) Closed Loop Recovery Project aims to increase the
recovery of target materials by 5% by 2020 and by 20% by 2030.
With this in mind the project has invested in trials exploring novel ways of boosting the
collection and recovery of critical raw materials from household WEEE.
Held across the UK, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic, the collection trials
mechanisms included retailer take-back schemes; re-use containers at household waste
recycling centres, business collections, university drop-off hubs, school collections and
other collection events.
Promoting re-use in Germany
RecyclingBörse (also known as ‘AKR’), based in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany,
collects and re-markets used products in its own second-hand shops across the region
and also runs a certified WEEE recycling facility.
AKR is an independent and not-for-profit organisation, with a mission to promote re-
use. It also has the capability to test and evaluate collected WEEE items according to
technical and market criteria.
Within the CRM Recovery project, AKR trialled three collection methods:

2. The LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
METHOD 1 - RE-USE OLYMPICS
Six secondary schools in the area of Herford participated in this trial. For each school, a
collection day was agreed and advertised in advance.
Figure 1 - Re-use Olympics process
At the end of the trial, representatives of these schools were invited to receive an award
and hear Sven Grieger, of CRM Recovery partner EARN, outline the importance of
recycling critical raw materials from WEEE.
All schools received a 50€ voucher for the second-hand warehouses of AKR in
recognition of their participation in the project.
Three schools were also each awarded a 200€ cheque for the best outcome of collected
re-usable items, the total collected WEEE, and the best performance per student.
50 secondary
schools invited
to take part
Six schools
participated
Pupils asked to
bring in re-
usable WEEE
items
WEEE collection
day agreed and
promoted
Pupils brought
in WEEE items
Awards
ceremony to
celebrate
success

3. The LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
METHOD 2 – ‘RE-BOX’
The Re-Box was developed to collect re-usable items from households in a convenient
manner and to minimise damage during storage and transportation. The collection was
not limited to WEEE.
Figure 3: Re-Box for households
In total, 33% of the boxes allocated were returned to AKR. 1% of these were used for
WEEE only. The others contained WEEE and items such as books, toys and games.
METHOD 3 – ‘RE-BAG’
The Re-Bag is an established method for AKR to collect used clothes from households.
In this trial, householders were also asked to include re-usable WEEE items. 100,000
bags were distributed.

4. The LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
Figure 4: Re-Bag and example of collected contents
Over the course of 2.5 months approximately 4,000 bags were returned, of which
around 200 contained small WEEE. Re-usable WEEE appliances accounted for 6.5%.
The trial in numbers
* the overall ratios of collected items that were then re-used
Trial impacts and learnings
- The secondary school pupils who took part in the Re-use Olympics are now much
more aware of the importance of WEEE collection and re-use.
- Re-Box is considered to be a good method of awareness-raising for recycling and re-
use. It also provides an ideal opportunity to offer an additional option for returning
small WEEE items. Public feedback was positive, although it should be noted that
there may be a kind of “giveaway” impact, in that the (free) boxes may well be
appreciated for other purposes.
- Re-Bag is a good method of raising awareness due to the high distribution rate and
relatively cheap production costs. The quantity collected is limited, but it is
nonetheless a successful means of reducing the amount of small WEEE that ends up
in household general waste bins.
- A ‘Re-Envelope’ trial was initiated, whereby local retailers would have been involved
in a postal WEEE collection. Customers would be supplied with envelopes in the
Weight
collected
Items
collected
Weight
re-use
Items
re-use
kg % No. % kg % No. %
Re-Use
Olympics
2,629.8 90.2% 720 68.6% 112.92 4.3% 45 6.3%
Re-Box 91.87 3.2% 67 6.4% 13.12 14.3% 6 9.0%
Re-Bag 193.5 6.6% 262 25% 16.49 8.5% 29 11.1%
Total 2,915.17 100% 1,049 100% 142.53 4.9%* 80 7.6%*

5. The LIFE 2014 CRM Recovery project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
shops in order to send smartphones directly to AKR. However, retailer interest was
quite limited. It also transpired that ADR, implemented via the Carriage of
Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations,
combined with mail providers’ concerns, made it too complicated to send items with
embedded Lithium Ion batteries.
Benefits
CRM Recovery project funding has helped to test and demonstrate a number of scalable
methods of WEEE collection.
A grand total of 2,9153kg of devices were collected via the three approaches. Around
142.5kg of these were considered as re-usable.
The six secondary schools that took part in the Re-use Olympics initiative collected a
total of 112.9kg of re-usable devices. Had this initiative been tested within the 50
schools initially invited, this figure could have increased to 940.83kg. As a further (very
basic) extrapolation, according to the German Federal Statistical Office there are around
7,793 similar schools across Germany (general secondary, grammar schools and
Integrated Comprehensives). If every one of these schools took part in a Re-use
Olympics, based on the trial, 146,638kg of re-usable devices could be collected.