What you need to know about e-waste, and how communities across Europe are taking action
E-waste is the EU’s fastest-growing waste stream, rising by around 2% every year. In 2022, Europeans bought 14.4 million tonnes of electrical and electronic equipment, yet only 5 million tonnes of WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) were officially collected, about 11.2 kg per person. Nearly half of all e-waste slips through formal systems, and only around 40% is properly recycled.
Read the factsheet about the overview of WEEE within the EU framework.
Why e-waste matters
WEEE includes everything from fridges and TVs to laptops, routers, toys, and small household gadgets. These items contain hazardous substances that can contaminate soil, water, and air if improperly handled. At the same time, they hold valuable and critical raw materials essential to Europe’s digital infrastructure, climate technologies, and green transition.
Recovering these materials through reuse, repair, and high-quality recycling reduces environmental impact and strengthens Europe’s strategic autonomy.
Communities leading the way
Across Europe, people are showing that practical, community-based solutions already exist. The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) brings together public authorities, NGOs, schools, businesses, and citizens to promote real-world actions that cut waste. This year’s focus on e-waste highlights how local initiatives can deliver measurable impact.
Within the Zero Waste Europe network, members are driving change:
- Digital Cleanup (Slovenia): Ekologi brez meja encourages households and organisations to delete unused files, apps, and duplicated data, reducing the hidden environmental footprint of digital storage.
- Re-Geppetto (Croatia): Friends of the Earth Croatia run a vibrant repair café where volunteers bring broken items back to life, making repair a creative, social event.
- Repair Academy (Portugal): Circular Economy Portugal trains citizens in electronics repair, building local skills and cutting e-waste before it forms.
- Circle Waste (ADRION region): a project that ensures e-waste is properly collected and supplied to circular businesses, preventing it from being dumped in the ADRION* region, and transforms these materials into local economic, environmental, and social benefits.
- Advocacy across the EU: from campaigns to regulate disposable e-cigarettes in Poland and the Netherlands to pushing back against planned obsolescence in France, communities are demanding more durable and accountable design.
Find more examples in EWWR’s factsheet: https://ewwr.eu/tackling-e-waste-locally-repair-reuse-and-digital-cleanups/
[*ADRION covers eight Partner States, of which four are EU Member States (Croatia, Greece, Italy and Slovenia), three are candidate countries (Albania, Montenegro, Serbia) and one is a potential candidate country (Bosnia and Herzegovina).]
Want to start your own initiative?
These resources can help communities, municipalities, and organisations take the first step:
- Kickstart Reuse Guidelines: step-by-step guidance to set up repair cafés, reuse centres, or second-hand shops, offers and real-life examples from Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia.
- Library of Things Starter Kit: a practical guide from Leila Vienna for launching a neighbourhood lending library.
- E-waste Guide (in German): a handbook from Zero Waste Austria and Zero Waste Germany on using technology more sustainably through repair, sharing, and reuse.
More resources and examples on this factsheet
What’s next?
E-waste is growing, but so are the solutions. Repair, reuse, social enterprises, and better product design can build healthier environments, stronger local economies, and more resilient communities. The EU’s policy framework aims to address these challenges:
Sets targets for separate collection, recycling, and recovery, and establishes Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for electronics producers.
Restricts the use of ten hazardous substances in electronic equipment, including lead, mercury, and cadmium.
However, the European Commission’s 2025 evaluation still identified key issues:
- Only a few Member States meet the 65% collection target.
- Recovery of critical raw materials remains low.
- EPR systems differ widely between countries, limiting effectiveness.
- Recycling standards are inconsistent across the EU.
- New waste streams rich in critical materials (e.g., solar panels, batteries from renewables) are not fully covered.
Read our study that looks at 30 years of EPR in Europe and offers a practical framework to turn EPR into a real engine for the circular transition.
Proper collection, reuse, and treatment can prevent pollution, reduce reliance on imported materials, and support local repair and refurbishment jobs.
Yet collection rates continue to fall due to higher device sales, illegal exports, insufficient enforcement, and widespread hoarding of unused electronics at home. To meet EU circular-economy goals, Europe needs stronger harmonisation, tougher enforcement, and greater public engagement.