Producer responsibility

Electrolux Group has a system in place to stay ahead of the most forward-thinking legislation on recycling. We have set up compliance schemes for handling the take-back and recycling of discarded appliances in all countries applying the WEEE Directive where Electrolux Group is fully represented.

Meeting the requirements of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) is commonly referred to as producer responsibility. The directive is an EU-wide framework which stipulates that the treatment, recovery, and disposal of electrical products are to be financed by their producers.

The WEEE Directive has an impact on the way we do business in Europe – Electrolux Group currently produces, sells and distributes over 20 million new appliances across the continent annually.

In turn, we are responsible for financing and organizing the handling of scrapped domestic appliances. The directive stipulates that 80% of the weight of the collected large appliances must be recovered – 75% must be recycled into new materials, while the remaining 5% may be converted into energy. For small domestic appliances, 70% of its weight must be recovered – 50% into new materials and 20% may be used as an energy source.

The European Recycling Platform (ERP) was initiated by four leading manufacturers of electrical and electronic appliances – Electrolux Group, Braun, Hewlett Packard and Sony. All companies share a proactive approach to recycling and the objective to optimize recycling costs.

ERP has recycled over 2 million metric tons of WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) since the start of its operations in Europe. This is equivalent to the removal of 8 million cars from the road for one year around Europe and has prevented the emission of 21.7 million tons of CO2 mostly through the effect of CFC elimination but also to the recovery of raw materials. You will find a list of all ERP countries at the ERP website, the link can be found at the right hand side of this page.

In European countries where ERP is not present, Electrolux Group works through national compliance schemes initiated by industry associations.