Collecting primary data in WEEE treatment facilities: mission impossible?

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is one of the fastest-growing waste streams worldwide. Improving its management from a life cycle point of view could produce several social, economic and environmental benefits. However, the difficulty associated with the characterization of WEEE flows limits the application of the life cycle thinking approach, especially when conducting an Organizational Life cycle assessment (O-LCA) study. In this context, this paper aims to shed a light on the main issues associated with the application of the sampling procedure proposed at the European level for developing reliable life cycle inventory data collection in WEEE treatment facilities. The results pointed out that the data collection and statistic calculation in this field should be still improved. Furthermore, future research should focus on the development of a valid, easy and binding sampling procedure to help stakeholders in monitoring and measuring data at the organization level.