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Waste Management 32 (2012) 335342

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman

A model for estimation of potential generation of waste electrical

and electronic equipment in Brazil
Marcelo Guimares Arajo a,, Alessandra Magrini a, Cludio Fernando Mahler b, Bernd Bilitewski c
a

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, COPPE, Energy Planning Department, Brazil

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, COPPE, GETRES, Brazil
c
Technical University of Dresden, Institute of Waste Management and Contaminated Site Treatment (IAA), Germany
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 12 February 2011
Accepted 18 September 2011
Available online 19 October 2011
Keywords:
WEEE
Waste generation
Brazil

a b s t r a c t
Sales of electrical and electronic equipment are increasing dramatically in developing countries. Usually,
there are no reliable data about quantities of the waste generated. A new law for solid waste management
was enacted in Brazil in 2010, and the infrastructure to treat this waste must be planned, considering the
volumes of the different types of electrical and electronic equipment generated.
This paper reviews the literature regarding estimation of waste electrical and electronic equipment
(WEEE), focusing on developing countries, particularly in Latin America. It briey describes the current
WEEE system in Brazil and presents an updated estimate of generation of WEEE. Considering the limited
available data in Brazil, a model for WEEE generation estimation is proposed in which different methods
are used for mature and non-mature market products.
The results showed that the most important variable is the equipment lifetime, which requires a thorough understanding of consumer behavior to estimate. Since Brazil is a rapidly expanding market, the
boom in waste generation is still to come. In the near future, better data will provide more reliable estimation of waste generation and a clearer interpretation of the lifetime variable throughout the years.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The Brazilian National Waste Management Policy (Poltica
Nacional de Resduos Slidos PNRS) was approved in August
2010 (Brasil, 2010), based on the concepts of shared product
responsibility, product life cycle and the reverse logistics for several sectors, including electrical and electronic waste. According
to this law, producers and government authorities must prepare
plans that provide diagnosis of the situation, scenarios, reduction,
reuse and recycling goals and targets for decreasing disposal in
landlls. However, this law still largely lacks the follow-on state
and local legislation and enabling regulations at all levels of government to put its provisions fully into practice.
Electrical and electronic equipment is one of the most dynamics
sectors of the economy, comprising 4.1% of Brazilian gross domestic product (GDP), placing Brazil today in a standout position in the
global market. For example, it is in fth place in production of computers (ABINEE, 2011; Valrio, 2009).
Material ow analysis is an initial step for a complete analysis
of the WEEE issue, which should include life cycle assessment
(LCA). This method considers the impacts along the life cycle of
Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 21 2562 8767.
E-mail address: marcel_g@uol.com.br (M.G. Arajo).
0956-053X/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2011.09.020

WEEE, so the subsequent reuse, refurbishment, treatment and disposal of materials can be assessed.
Analysis of the life cycle of WEEE in Brazil, however, is extremely complex due to the dispersion of agents involved throughout
the country and the lack of a structured policy for collection and
recycling (ABETRE, 2006; Rodrigues, 2007; Fehr et al., 2010). Even
the rst step of characterizing the life cycle in quantitative terms is
difcult and controversial. Indeed, the data available in Brazil are
conicting, which prevents their utilization for accurate LCA. In
this sense, the present paper has the goal to estimate and validate
the volumes of WEEE in the country, taking international experiences as references.
In this paper seven types of equipment as tracers for the WEEE
system in Brazil were chosen: refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, televisions, audio systems, computers and cell phones.
They are the most representative of the WEEE generated, considering weight, sales volume, lifetime, presence and importance of hazardous substances. The model presented here tries to analyze these
items according to the level of market development, based on two
assumptions. For mature market products, like refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, televisions and audio systems, the estimate
of waste generation is done assuming an average lifetime for the
appliances. For non-mature market products, like computers and
cell phones, due to the technological changes affecting lifetime,

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M.G. Arajo et al. / Waste Management 32 (2012) 335342

the waste generation is estimated according to the difference between sales and variation of the stock in use.
The paper is organized into seven sections including this introduction. Section 2 gives a description of the electronic and electrical equipment market; Section 3 describes briey the WEEE
system in Brazil and its impacts; Section 4 presents a review of
the literature on estimating WEEE generation; Section 5 presents
a model for WEEE generation for the selected equipment; Section
6 shows the results; and nally, Section 7 sets out our conclusions,
emphasizing the critical success factors for good WEEE management in Brazil.
2. The international context and the Brazilian market for
electrical and electronic equipment
Analysis of the international market for electrical and electronic
equipment (EEE) shows that products like televisions, refrigerators,
washing machines and sound systems have reached relatively stable output levels in developed countries, while in emerging countries the markets for these devices are still expanding, due to
increasing income levels and urbanization. In developing countries,
these markets can be said to be mature. This same is not true for
other products, such as computers and mobile phones. At the international level, the markets for these products are still expanding
rapidly.
As an example of mature market in a developed country,
according to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology
Industries Association (JEITA, 2011), there was a decrease in television sales of 4% from 2000 to 2008 in Japan. In contrast, Display
Search (2011) projects an increase of 6% in television sales in
developing countries from 2011 to 2015, while estimates are of
only 0.3% for developed countries.
Mobile technology is a fast-growing non-mature market. The
number of mobile subscriptions increased 42% in developed countries from 2005 to 2010, while in developing countries the increase
was 226% during the same period (ITU, 2011), creating problems
from generation of waste from mobile phones and the need for
proper management.
Technological advance and the rapid inroads by these devices
requires increasingly complex studies of these markets, in particular their productive chains.
The Brazilian EEE market has been growing strongly in recent
years. According to ABINEE (2011), despite the global crisis effect
in 2009, there was a 23% increase in revenues in the electrical and
electronic equipment sector from 2007 to 2010 (Table 1). During
this period exportation decreased 18% while importation increased
45%. These variations can be attributed mainly to the appreciation
of Brazils currency against other currencies, especially the dollar,
making imports relatively cheaper and exports more expensive.
This has attracted a ood of imports, especially from Asia, and
eroded Brazils exports, particularly to other Latin American
countries.
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) conducts an annual household survey called the PNAD (IBGE, 2002;

Table 1
Economic indicators for the electronic and electrical equipment sectora in Brazil.

Revenues (US$ billions)

Exportation (US$ billions)
Importation (US$ billions)
No. de employees (1000)

2007

2008

2009

2010

57.4
9.3
24.0
156.0

67.0
9.9
32.0
161.9

56.1
7.5
25.0
160.0

70.7
7.6
34.9
175.0

Source: ABINEE (2011).

a
Industrial automation, components, industrial equipments, electrical material
for installations, informatics, telecommunications and household appliances.

2009). Among the data gathered is the percentage of households

that have various types of electrical and electronic equipment, as
shown in Table 2.
As can be seen, the standout performers are computers and mobile phones. The potential for expansion of these two products is
still large because of rising income levels and urbanization along
with technological advance, making them cheaper. While sales of
nearly all electrical and electronic equipment should be strong in
the coming years, this will not be uniform throughout the country,
given Brazils great regional disparities in household ownership of
EEE, as can be seen in Table 3 below.
Table 3 clearly shows the income disparity in the country. The
Northeast Region, the countrys poorest, has the lowest penetration
rates of all EEE items, followed by the North region. The Midwest
region, a new economic frontier that today has an average per capita income level 22% higher than the national average, shows fast
growth in penetration.
We should mention that the PNAD data on presence of appliances in households reported in Tables 2 and 3 only show the number of households that possess the items, not if a household has
more than one device. Also, since the PNAD is a household survey,
it does not reect business usage. Therefore, the PNAD numbers
are conservative for all types of equipment and particularly so
for computers and cell phones, which are used by both households
and businesses.
Table 4 shows data from ABINEE on sales of computers and mobile phones for the period from 2000 to 2009. For personal computers, an annual survey of households and ofces is conducted by
Meireles (2010), estimating the stock of computers in use. Cell
phone stock is based on the number of cell phone lines in use, obtained from operators (Associao Brasileira de Telecomunicaes
TELEBRASIL, 2010).

Table 2
Penetration of EEE in Brazilian households in 2001 and 2008.
Equipment

Percent of households

Televisions
Refrigerators
Freezers
Washing machines
Audio systems
Computers
Cell phones

2001 (%)

2008 (%)

Increase (%)

89
85
19
34
88
13
8

95
92
16
42
89
35
42

7
8
16
22
1
172
424

Source: IBGE (2002) and (2009).

Table 3
Regional distribution of households that have EEE in Brazil in 2008.
Equipment

Televisions
Refrigerators
Freezers
Washing
machines
Audio
systems
Computers
Cell phones

Household
2008
(million
units)

Regions (% household)

54.8
53
9.2
47.2

90%
83.9%
15.3%
26.7%

91.7%
81.5%
7%
15.5%

23.9

76.4%

82.4%

93%

17.4% 15.7%
N/A
N/A

40%
N/A

20.3
24.1

Source: IBGE (2009).

N/A not available.

North

Northeast Southeast South

97.6%
97.3%
15.6%
54.3%

West

96.4%
97.2%
31.5%
59%

94.6%
95.1%
18.6%
34.4%

94.9%

86.4%

38.5% 30.9%
N/A
N/A

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M.G. Arajo et al. / Waste Management 32 (2012) 335342

Table 4
Computer and cell phone sales and stock in use (million units).
Computer

2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009

Cell phones

Sales (1)

Stock (2)

Sales (1)

Stock (3)

2.9
3.1
3.1
3.2
4.1
5.6
8.2
10
12
12

10
13
16
19
23
28
34
41.5
50
60

2.6
5.2
11.3
16.4
33.3
36.6
37.1
49.7
55.1
50

23.2
28.7
34.9
46.4
65.6
86.2
99.9
121
150.6
174

Sources: (1) ABINEE (2010), (2) Meireles (2010), (3) TELEBRASIL (2010).

This table shows the great increase in computer and cell phone
stocks during the period, a variation of 385% and 526%, respectively
from 2001 to 2008. As expected, comparing Tables 3 and 4 it can be
seen that the last one shows higher numbers of stocks. The gures
in Table 4 more accurately reect the numbers of these two devices. However, for mature technologies, the PNAD gures can be
used as an acceptably close estimate of the numbers of these products in use.
All these numbers, particularly regarding computers and cell
phones, show a continuous increase in sales of these devices, at
least until the point the market becomes saturated. Nonetheless,
the rapidly changing technology of these devices indicates that
even after the market becomes saturated, further sales increases
are possible since consumers will tend to buy new equipment with
more power and functionalities before the end of the lifetime of
their existing ones. This situation means there is an increasing
need for accurate statistics and integrated management of the
waste generated by these devices.

3. Waste electrical and electronic equipment and its impacts

Waste electrical and electronic equipment has become a very
important waste stream due to increasing volume of sales and
the hazardous substances in the respective components (Hilty,
2005). In Europe this has led to specic legislation, the WEEE
Directive (EU, 2002), with the goal of diverting WEEE from landlls
and increasing the recovery of materials by imposing extended
producer responsibility for electrical and electronic equipment.
WEEE contains several hazardous substances, like lead, mercury, beryllium, PBB (polybrominated biphenyl), PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ether) and PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) (EEA,
2003; UNEP, 2009). All these can cause severe effects on the health
of people in surrounding areas and also contamination of soil and
agricultural production (Zhao et al., 2008; Wang et al., 2009).
The international ow of WEEE has been analysed by several
authors (Zoeteman et al., 2010; Robinson, 2009), particularly ewaste,1 which contains valuable metals like gold and platinum. Most
of the exportation from developed countries regions the US and EU
ends up in China, India, Malaysia, Nigeria and others developing
countries. In most cases the recycling activity in these countries is
done by informal businesses without the appropriate techniques,
but at lower costs (BAN and SVTC, 2002; Yang et al., 2008).
One of the areas most affected by the environmental and social
impacts of WEEE recycling is Southeast China (Leung et al., 2007;
Zhao et al., 2009). Yang et al. (2008) notes that most WEEE exportation to China is forbidden according to Chinese laws, adding that
1
Many authors classify electronic products like computers, cell phones and others
as e-waste, and WEEE includes all types of equipment that are powered by electricity.

337

new policies based on extended producer responsibility were

being drawn up to solve the problem.
There are no nationally consolidated data on solid wastes in
general in Brazil, much less any specic type, so there is way to
undertake a detailed analysis of the stream of WEEE. However,
there are some rough estimates. For instance, the Brazilian Association of Public Cleaning and Special Waste Disposal Companies
(ABRELPE, 2011) estimates that the country generated 57 million
tonnes (metric tons) of solid urban waste in 2009, which works
out to annual per capita generation of 359 kg. It also states that
53.1% of the total volume collected is concentrated in states of
the Southeast region (the countrys most developed, which includes the states of So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), followed by
22.0% from the Northeast, 10.8% from the South, 8.0% from the
Midwest and 6.1% from the North.
Waste management systems in Brazil are almost completely
based on landlls. In big cities some of the landlls have appropriate conditions and could be classied as sanitary landlls. Nonetheless, according to ABRELPE (2011), in 2009, only 47% of the
total urban waste collected was disposed of in sanitary landlls,
while the rest went to other dumps and landlls. Selective trash
collection is very recent in Brazilian cities. In 2010, such programs
reached only 12% of the countrys population, of which electrical
and electronic equipment represented 1.9% of the total collected
by weight (Cempre, 2011).
The municipal waste management agency in Rio de Janeiro city
(COMLURB) reports a WEEE rate of 0.13% in a characterization
sampling of the urban solid waste collected during 2008, which
represents 0.64 kg/year/capita (COMLURB, 2009). Although there
are efcient collection and recycling schemes for some waste
types, such as aluminum cans, paper and cardboard, glass and
some plastics (Cempre, 2011), it appears that neither the informal
nor the formal market has yet realized the economic and social potential of WEEE recycling.
There is very virtually no sound information about illegal WEEE
trading in Brazil. For the formal market, Rodrigues (2007) reports a
small company in Sao Paulo city that collects computer circuit
boards that are shredded and exported to Germany, the United
State, Japan and China for material recovery. Also, Bandini (2009)
estimated a 2% WEEE recycling rate for the entire country. There
are some formal recycling facilities acting in Brazil, but they are
more focused on waste generated by the electronic manufacturing
sector (obsolescent items, production line rejects). Usually the devices are dismantled, separated according materials and shredded.
The nal material is sent to some industries for reuse as raw material, or disposed of at industrial landlls (Rodrigues, 2007).
The trade and disposal of hazardous wastes are regulated by
Resolution 23 from the National Environmental Council (CONAMA), which incorporates the provisions of the Basel Convention.
Brazil only recently created its National Solid Waste Management
Policy, through Law 12305/2010, enacted at the end of 2010, which
imposes reverse logistics and treatment of electrical and electronic
equipment waste, among other streams (Brasil, 2010). As the provisions of this law are gradually phased in through the issuance of
enabling regulations by the federal government and compliance by
state and municipal governments, the market for treatment of
WEEE will expand.
Some companies have proactively created take-back schemes in
advance of when the mandatory rules will be imposed. Vivo, the
biggest mobile operator, started a program in 2006 called Recycle
Your Mobile. According to Limonta (2010), from 2007 to 2009
588,842 mobile devices were collected at 3400 points by Vivo. A
small portion (10%) of the collected devices are reconditioned for
reuse. The Vivo program has accounted for only 0.2% of the number
of mobile units sold (301 million) since the beginning of mobile
operation in Brazil.

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There is anecdotal evidence of a WEEE reuse market, but the

size of this market is not easily measurable. In Brazil, cascade use
is quite common, with donation or resale of equipment to people
of lower economic classes, resulting in longer product lifetimes,
but with great regional variations.
These issues reinforce the need for a consistent control of production and consumption of WEEE in order to reduce the impacts
of inappropriate local disposal of WEEE and illegal importation
from or exportation to other countries.

4. Literature review on estimation of potential waste electrical

and electronic equipment
The inherent difculties of obtaining data on WEEE and the possible ways of estimating its generation are the subjects of various
published works in the international arena. According to the European Environmental Agency (EEA, 2003), the difculty of setting up
material ow balance for electrical and electronic equipment involves the complexity of the system and the lack of reliable data.
The authors note the difculties in obtaining data for the calculations of WEEE potential in Europe, stating that the data needed
to carry out the calculations are rather poor, insofar it is not mandatory for companies to disclose production gures. They conclude
that data compiled by market research companies like A C Nielsen,
IDC, JEITA, EITO and others are more accurate than those of statistical authorities, since these rms have the specic expertise of
each market under analysis.
According to Babbitt et al. (2009), product lifetime is a fundamental variable in understanding the environmental impacts associated with the life cycle of products. The authors analyzed the
evolution of personal computer lifetime at an American university
during the period from 1985 to 2000. For this case study, the purchase and generation of obsolete computers from the higher education sector was estimated using different scenarios for product
lifetime dynamics. They found that not only did the lifetime decrease steadily from a mean of 10.7 years to 5.5 years during the
15-year study period, but also that the lifetime distribution also
evolved, becoming narrower over time. They concluded that the
assumption of constant lifetime is problematic and that it is important to work toward understanding the dynamics of use patterns.
Leigh et al. (2007) developed a framework to analyze waste
ows when faced with limited data availability, using as an example obsolete computers in the city of Atlanta. Even though there is
a specic regulation for WEEE in the United States, the information
required to analyze the recycling program, such as product lifetime, generation volume, spatial distribution and discard rates,
were not systematically or regularly collected at the regional level.
The authors model was based on a product ow analysis of a 23-kg
computer, employing different discard rates along the lifetime, and
assuming that both turnover and discard rates are higher for business computers than for household computers. The authors concluded that the accuracy of waste estimation appears more
constrained by data availability than by methodology.
Facing the limitations of data mainly in developing countries,
Muller et al. (2009) presented a simplied method developed by
the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) that allows estimating WEEE quantities for a region.
The source data are based on the indicators personal computers
per 100 inhabitants and personal computers provided by the
International Telecommunication Union and a correlation between
GDP per capita with PCs per capita for missing country data.
The model relies on a ow with three processes production, consumption and disposal for a time-invariant system. The model
uses a normal obsolescence rate distribution. Average desktop
weight is 25 kg and laptop is 4 kg, considering an increasing ratio

of laptops for higher income countries. With these assumptions,

the authors found a global average of 0.3 kg/capita per year of computer waste generation. The authors considered that the model
with some adjustments could be used for other WEEE products.
Widmer et al. (2005) presented an overview of the WEEE problem, including its characterization and methods for estimating
generation. They also analyzed the limitations of these methods
originally developed for industrialized countries, and the particularities when analyzing developing countries such as China, India
and South Africa. The authors stated that the results of estimations
can vary widely since methods and assumptions differ, concluding
that the lack of reliable data poses a challenge to policy makers
wishing to design an e-waste management strategy and to an
industry wishing to make rational investment decisions.
The generation of WEEE in China was estimated by Yang et al.
(2008) for selected items, where average lifetimes were calculated
based on a distribution model dened by a survey through a questionnaire designed to determine the share of each product in the
market in a given year. The authors also emphasized the importance of the informal market, since there are no statistical data
for the quantity of illegal imports of WEEE. They concluded that
a detailed material ow analysis or life cycle assessment study
on WEEE is urgently needed to support WEEE legislation and policy
development.
A model for the prediction of WEEE generation for the city of
Beijing, China is presented by Liu et al. (2006). The model is based
on the market supply method from survey data on product obsolescence ratio carried out in 2005. The results indicated a generation of 3.5 kg/capita in 2005 for the ve selected devices: TVs,
refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and computers.
EMPA has done some research about the ow of WEEE in developing countries, and with simplied MFA methods, EMPA was able
to evaluate WEEE generation for India, Chile, Peru, Colombia and
Brazil, among other developing countries. To analyze the informal
recycling sector of the city of Delhi, India, Streicher-Porte et al.
(2005) developed a model based on the simplied MFA method
of EMPA. The system unit was a personal computer weighing
27.2 kg. Along with the available data, semi-structured interviews
were applied to identify and describe the different recycling processes. The authors believe that the model allows researchers to
plan future assessments in a more focused way.
Current WEEE quantities were assessed and future ows were
predicted using a material ow analysis model by Steubing et al.
(2010) for Chile, in which computer hardware was used as tracer
equipment for WEEE. The authors best available numbers indicated that formal recycling infrastructure receives less than 3% of
the annual quantities of computer waste in Chile.
Streicher-Porte et al. (2009), using material ow analysis, life
cycle assessment and multiple attribute utility theory, evaluated
the suitability of three scenarios for computer supplies to schools
in Colombia: refurbishment of computers donated in Colombia,
importation of computers donated and refurbished abroad, and
purchase of low-cost computers manufactured in Korea. The
authors considered that computers donated in Colombia were
5 years old, and would have an additional 4 years usage after refurbishment, while the overseas donated computers would have
5 years additional life with maintenance and the new computers
would be used for 5 years without maintenance. The most sustainable solution proved to be local refurbishment of second-hand
computers of Colombian origin to an appropriate technical
standard.
Espinoza et al. (2008) reported that Peru does not have a local
technology industry. Most of the items are thus imported. The article presents an analysis of the current situation in the country and
an estimation of the generation of WEEE up to 2015, focused on
computer equipment and mobile phones. The author noted the

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Table 5
Brazilian WEEE generation in 2005 according to UNEP (2009).

Table 6
Estimates of WEEE generation for 2008 according to Rocha et al. (2009).

Equipment

2005 waste (tonnes/year)

Lifetime (years)

Weight (kg)

Equipment

2008 waste (tonnes)

Lifetime (years)

Weight (kg)

Televisions
Refrigerators
Computers
Cell phones

137,000
115,100
96,800
2200

8
10
5
4

30
45
25
0.1

Televisions
Refrigerators
Computers
Cell phones

134,990
249,390
56,270
1800

13
15
7
2

32
72
29
0.01

importance of the second-hand electronics market and also the formal and informal recycling chains, although stating that there are
no ofcial numbers for waste electrical and electronic equipment
recycling in Peru.
The ow of used computers exported to Peru was analyzed by
Kahhat and Williams (2009). Noting that the United States is the
primary exporter of these items, they emphasized that most of
them are for reuse not for recycling or nal disposal in Peru.
Regarding recycling, the authors stated that printed circuit boards
are usually not recycled domestically but exported to Europe for
advanced recycling or to China for (presumably) informal recycling for recovery of precious metals. Ott (2008) also conducted
a survey of e-waste in Colombia. Using the MFA method, the
author estimated generation of computer scrap of between 6 and
9 thousand tonnes in 2007.
Moguel (2007) presented an analysis of the WEEE system, its
stakeholders and a simplied calculation for WEEE generation in
Mexico. This country has an important role in the international
electronics market, with several manufacturing facilities. The
author considered the impact of illegal importation, noting that
illegal importation had decreased after the signing of the North
American Free Trade Agreement. The analysis was based on the
ow of televisions, computers, audio systems and telephones.
The model estimated 257 thousands tonnes WEEE for 2006. The
author noted that there are some recycling companies acting in
Mexico, but estimated that recycling does not reach more than
3% of total WEEE, and reuse gures are unknown. He also noted
there are some difculties regarding viability and reliability of data
on WEEE generation.
5. WEEE generation in Brazil
This section analyzes the main estimates of WEEE generation in
Brazil and proposes an alternative model to calculate the waste
ows for devices in mature and immature markets.
5.1. Analysis of the existing estimates
In a recent report, United Nations Environment Programme
UNEP (2009) presented estimates for WEEE generation of several
countries. Stock data for the equipment were obtained from CIA
World Facts. Table 5 presents a summary of the assumptions and
ndings for Brazilian WEEE by the UNEP study using the methodology of consumption and use.
The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) prepared a similar study for Brazil to that mentioned above for estimation of WEEE generation, based on the
same methodology of consumption and use for 2008 (Rocha
et al., 2009). The authors estimated WEEE generation2 of 3.4 kg/capita for 2008. Some of these results are presented in Table 6 for the
same four WEEE types as the study of Table 5. The lifetimes applied
in the model are similar to those used in EMPA surveys for other
2
The devices used by the authors for the generation estimates are televisions,
refrigerators, freezers, telephones, washing machines, audio systems, computers and
cell phones.

Latin American countries (Protomastro, 2007; Ott, 2008). In this

study the authors did not consider the stock of businesses, so that
their estimate was conservative.
The estimates presented above show the uncertainties and discrepancies in the parameters utilized for calculating WEEE in Brazil. These remarks hold for other countries as well, since the
methodologies utilized for other countries are generally the same.
These drawbacks evidence the need to develop a new methodology
for calculation.
While average lifetime is an important parameter for estimating
waste ows of televisions, refrigerators, freezers, washing machines and sound systems, it is less important for mobile phones
and computers, because of the much greater variability of the lifetimes of these products. The consumption and use method applied
by the authors in Tables 5 and 6 is more adequate for mature market products (EEA, 2003) and can cause some distortions when
estimating waste from equipment like computers and cell phones.

5.2. A model for WEEE generation estimation

The model presented here tries to apply different methods to
estimate the generation of waste from the equipment, considering
that non-mature market products need a different approach. Mature markets are those that are increasing almost at the same rate
as the population. Sales are basically for replacement of products
after the end of their useful life. Non-mature market products are
those where demand is growing faster than population or those
that undergo sudden waves of technological change, with the
resulting shortening of the lifetime of old technology products.
Sales are both to new users and for replacement of old products
due to new technological features.
Lifetime is dened as the total time the product remains at the
system boundaries from the retail point until the moment it is sent
to the solid waste management system. Therefore, equipment reuse is considered within the lifetime. The model assumes there is
no WEEE importation from or exportation to other countries. The
equipment weights were chosen according a survey at retail stores
in the local market.
For mature market products the model applies the consumption
and use method (Eq. (1)). Lifetimes were chosen based on an average of the values used on the articles cited in Section 4. Stock numbers were obtained from Table 3.
For non-mature market products, the time-step method is applied (Eq. (2)). It does not need a lifetime input. It is adequate for
markets where product lifetimes are variable. This is the case of
personal computers and cell phones, which have undergone continuous technological changes, such the three generations of cell
phones. With this method, guessing the lifetime can be bypassed.
Sales and stock were taken from Table 4.
The models assumptions are that when desktops are discarded,
the monitors are also replaced, and both together weigh 30 kg. It is
assumed that all the computers that were no longer in use in 2008
were desktops, since the percentage of notebooks was very low
before this date. A similar assumption is made for monitors: that
the monitors no longer in use were CRTs, since LCD sales only
started to increase after 2007 (ABINEE, 2010). For cell phones, it

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M.G. Arajo et al. / Waste Management 32 (2012) 335342

is assumed that for each in use line there is only one handset and
that the average weight of the devices is 100 g.

Wast e

5,000
4,000

tonnes

(A) For mature market products: refrigerators, washing

machines, televisions, freezers and audio systems.
Consumption and use method.
For a given year i:

Sales
6,000

3,000
2,000

Generation of WEEEi stocks in usei =average life time

1,000

Stocki is the number of devices in use.

(B) For non-mature markets: computers and cell phones.
Time-step method.
For a given year i:

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Fig. 1. Sales and waste estimate of cell phones for Brazil 20002008.

Sales

Generation of WEEEi sales in yeari

Waste

400,000

 stock in yeari
2

Salesi includes local production and importation during a

year.
Stocki is the number of devices in use.

tonnes

350,000

 stock in yeari1

300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
-

6. Analysis of the results

2000

The estimation of the WEEE generation for the selected products in Brazil for 2008 is presented at Table 7. The table also presents the equipment waste generation per capita for 2008.
Total WEEE generation per capita for the seven selected products is 3.77 kg/capita/year. This number is not too far from the
3.4 kg/capita/year found for Brazil by Rocha et al. (2009), who used
the same products for Brazil in 2008. Nonetheless, the results are
different for non-mature products, notably computer waste.
Whereas Rocha et al. (2009) indicated 0.3 kg/capita/year, using
an average lifetime of 7 years, here a value of 0.56 kg/capita/year
for computer waste is estimated for 2008. The difference can be explained partially by the need to guess the lifetime when applying
the consumption and use method.
From the same parameters for the EEE time series in Table 4,
Figs. 1 and 2 show the strong sales growth of the two devices during the period analyzed, along with the upward trend in waste generation after the useful life.
In these curves, lifetime is the period between the sale and
waste curve. From Fig. 1 a lifetime of 4.5 years is found for cell
phones. From Fig. 2 a lifetime of 5 years is obtained for computers
in 2008. By comparing these curves it can be seen there is no constant discrepancy, which means that lifetime is not constant.

Table 7
Estimates of selected WEEE for Brazil in 2008.
Equipment

Weight
(kg)

Lifetime
(years)

WEEE
(tonnes/year)

WEEE per capita

(kg/year)

Televisions
Refrigerators
Freezers
Washing
machines
Audio
systems

30
65
50
40

12
12
15
10

136,883
287,024
30,787
95,596

0.73
1.53
0.16
0.51

10

10

51,173

0.27

601,462
105,000
2550

3.2
0.56
0.01

Non-mature market
subtotal

107,550

0.57

Total

709,012

3.77

Mature market subtotal

Computers
30
Cell phones
0.1

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Fig. 2. Sales and waste estimate of computers for Brazil 20002008.

A sensitivity analysis for the ve mature-market WEEE products

in this study is presented in Table 8. The generation of WEEE is
tested for a maximum and a minimum level of the equipment lifetime variable, according to the literature cited in Section 4. This
analysis indicates the importance of the lifetime variable and the
corresponding need for comprehensive knowledge of consumer
behavior and the factors that affect the disposal decision, such as
technological innovation, availability and cost of maintenance,
among others.
A comparison of the estimates of generation of desktop computer waste in several countries of Latin America obtained from
Section 2 is presented in Table 9.
The estimates of computer waste generation in Mexico, Argentina and Chile (0.44, 0.49 and 0.42 kg/capita a year) are very near
those presented here for Brazil (0.56 kg/capita a year). These numbers are higher than the global average for 2005 of 0.3 kg/capita a
year estimated by Muller et al. (2009). Comparisons are always difcult, though, because the reference years in the studies are not
the same, which can cause differences between countries because
of different penetration timing. For total WEEE estimation the
comparison is even more limited, because each study uses a different combination of equipment.
Comparisons with European numbers must consider the different technological level of the market. A different mix of technologies will occur according to the market level of technology.
Therefore, collection and treatment schemes must be prepared to
deal with different technological levels of the appliances. For
example, nowadays most monitors sold are LCDs, but for several
years CRT monitors still will be discarded. Treatment facilities
must be capable of processing these different devices, with different treatment technologies.
The average lifetime chosen for mature market products of the
model could be used for a total estimation for the country. Nonetheless, for specic regions or social strata, a different lifetime
should be used, considering the peculiarities of each situation. As
shown in Table 3, the penetration of devices in households in the
different regions in Brazil is not the same. The same is likely true
for the lifetime.

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M.G. Arajo et al. / Waste Management 32 (2012) 335342

Table 8
Sensitivity analysis of lifetime.
Equipment

Max.
lifetime
(years)

WEEE
(tonnes/
year)

Min. lifetime
(years)

WEEE
(tonnes/
year)

Televisions
Refrigerators
Freezers
Washing
machines
Audio systems

15
15
18
13

205,324
344,429
38,483
136,566

8
10
12
7

109,506
229,619
25,656
73,535

13

73,104

39,364

Total

797,906

341

(2) Establishment of effective and safe controls.

(3) Structuring of a reverse logistics stream, with reverse logistics channels for each product type that are competitive and
environmentally and technologically well structured.
(4) Fostering the reuse, refurbishment and secondary recycling
markets.
(5) Incentives for the creation of scavenger associations and
recycling facilities, by tax breaks and low-interest loans to
small and medium enterprises.

477,680

Acknowledgments

Table 9
Comparison of desktop computer waste (including monitor) with other countries in
Latin America.
Country

Desktop waste
(tonnes/year)

Year

Desktop waste (kg/

capa at reference year)

References

Mexico

47,500

2006

0.44

Argentina

20,000

2007

0.49

Colombia
Peru

7400
7300

2007
2007

0.17
0.26

Chile

7000

2008

0.42

Moguel
(2007)
Protomastro
(2007)
Ott (2008)
Espinoza
et al. (2008)
Steubing
et al. (2010)

a
Per capita value is calculated according to population given by CIA World Fact
(2011) adjusted to the year of each reference.

7. Conclusion
A reliable estimate of generation of waste is crucial to policymakers and waste management service companies. After the
enactment of the Solid Waste Law in 2010, the producers and
importers of electrical and electronic equipment now face the
impending responsibility for a proper treatment of WEEE, and
therefore they will have to structure a system for WEEE collection
and treatment. For such a system to be efcient, there will have to
be reliable gures on WEEE generation to allow adequate control
treatment and disposal.
The main goal of the present study is to highlight the need of a
different methodology to estimated WEEE generation for non-mature market products, such as computers and cell phones. Our results show that average lifetime for such products is not constant
and therefore a method that uses a constant average lifetime
should not be used to estimate the waste generation of these
devices.
Total yearly WEEE generation per capita for the seven selected
products is 3.8 kg per year. This estimate is a rough indication for
2008 of the generation of selected WEEE items. It considers only
some items, for which there are available data. These numbers
should be taken with care, since there are variations regarding regional location and consumer behavior for buying, using and disposing of the equipment. The most important variable is the
product lifetime, and that information demands a thorough understanding of consumer behavior.
The ndings of this study reinforce the need of further research
on modeling of WEEE generation, through surveys to gather data
on production and collection of the WEEE stream. Such data is necessary to support the stakeholders to establish an efcient WEEE
policy in the country, and will depend on several critical factors:
(1) Establishment of a specic legislation on WEEE, with regulations that are adequate for the different regional market
conditions.

We acknowledge support from the Brazilian research agencies

CNPq, CAPES and FAPERJ, as well as DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) and ABINEE.
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