WEEE Recycling and Circular Economy Assisted by Collaborative Robots
Date
2020-07-13Keywords
Human-robot collaboration
Collaborative robots
WEEE waste management
Abstract
Considering the amount of waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) generated
each year at an increasing rate, it is of crucial importance to develop circular economy solutions
that prioritize reuse and recycling, as well as reducing the amount of waste that is disposed of at
landfills. This paper analyses the evolution of the amount of WEEE collection and its recycling rate at
the national and European levels. It also describes the regulatory framework and possible future
government policy measures to foster a circular economy. Furthermore, it identifies the different parts
and materials that can be recovered from the recycling process with a special emphasis on plastics.
Finally, it describes a recycling line that has been designed for the dismantling of computer cathodic
ray tubes (CRT)s that combines an innovative participation of people and collaborative robots which
has led to an effective and efficient material recovery solution. The key issue of this human–ro ...
Type
article