The potential for recovering metals from small household appliances

Cleaver, V., Williams, I.D. and Pierron, X. (2014) The potential for recovering metals from small household appliances. In Proceedings of SUM 2014 – Second Symposium on Urban Mining. CISA Publisher. Paper 111 .

Abstract

Countries who are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have high saturation of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) (Widmer et al., 2005). In 2011, >1,130,000 tonnes of EEE were put onto the market in the UK. A total of 40.7% of this tonnage was made up of large household appliances with cooling appliances and small household appliances contributing to 15% and 12.1% of this total respectively (Environment Agency, 2012). Small household appliances (SHA) are items such as kettles and toasters and personal care appliances such as hair dryers. The increasing incorporation of technology into electronic products and their affordability means that they are replaced regularly, especially by people strongly influenced by fashion and advertising. Consequently there are increasing concerns about the sustainability of EEE manufacture, use and disposal both in terms of resource and energy use.
It is widely recognised that we need to transition to a so-called “Green Economy” in order to deliver sustainable development (Williams and Kemp, 2013). For this to be achieved, the business community and consumers will need to reduce their impacts on the environment by changing what is produced and how it is produced and used. It is therefore essential that young people in developed nations who have been brought up on a diet of cheap international transport, fast food, high-speed communication and resource intensive consumable products, fully grasp the consequences of this transition in terms of adopting different ways of living and working. The same applies to younger generations of the emerging economies who will cast a powerful global influence in terms of future economic development and resource consumption.
University students are part of the demographic of young adults who frequently buy electrical and electronic equipment and buy personal care appliances due the perceived importance of image in contemporary society. As they often live in high-density accommodation, student households may also consume more energy than a typical household. The aims of this study were to assess the attitudes and behaviours of young adults (university students) in relation to the use and disposal of small household appliances and to quantify the frequency and period of use.
The study employed an online questionnaire of students at the University of Southampton to assess the purchase, ownership, use and disposal of small household appliances. An additional small-scale energy diary study was employed at 28 student households to assess the energy usage patterns of several household appliances. Photography was used to visualise the volume of electronic and electronic equipment in three student households

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Contributors

Author: I.D. Williams

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