The Status and Practices of WEEE Management: A Case Study in Thailand

Abstract

Advance technology and rising in a demand of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) lead to the global crisis from an enormous amount of end-of-life EEE, so-called waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Regarding this issue, the drafts of the WEEE Management Act and the Integrated WEEE Management Action Plan were released publicly in Thailand. The chapters of the drafted WEEE Management Act in handling WEEE, not only from industry sector but also residential sector, are shown herein. Up to date, WEEE from the industry has been managed systematically by formal sectors, i.e., waste processor factories or the facilities licensed, while WEEE from the municipality has been managed mainly by informal sectors that can lead to negative impacts on environment and human health. Due to no WEEE Management Act issued, the majority of WEEE from the municipality goes to improper handling. In this paper, WEEE of a company case study is obtained from the industry and its management comprises sorting, dismantling, crushing and analysis of finished products, and finally transportation of finished products to the overseas partner smelters. Good practices of WEEE management of this case study fully cover pre-steps of WEEE processing; WEEE processing; and safety, environment, and social responsibility.