Product clustering as a strategy for enhanced plastics recycling from WEEE

The ambition to extend material recycling from end-of-life electric and electronic products seems to lead to an unavoidable trade-off between circularity maximisation and quality concerns. However, optimized pre-treatment can help to assure that both polymer fraction compatibility and imperfect separation with the available technologies are fully taken into account to assure maximum plastics recycling. A systematic approach to determine pre-sorting product and component clusters, that allow recycling with conventional separation techniques, is explained. Using statistical data sets for a case study of selected common WEEE products categories, the clusters in which to sort the products and dismantled components are documented and can support enhanced polymer recycling in an industrial setting.