ECO-I North West - Opening up the expertise, equipment and resource of the region’s leading universities

Company Profile REPIC operates not-for-profit producer compliance schemes for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), batteries and packaging, supporting its members in meeting their producer responsibility obligations with cost- effective, market-leading compliance solutions. REPIC finances the collection, treatment and recovery of around half of all separately collected household WEEE each year, supporting its producer members in meeting their recycling obligations while driving an improved circular economy for EEE. The Project Over 500,000 tonnes of consumer WEEE is collected and recycled within the producer responsibility system each year in the UK. WEEE contains a complex mixture of plastics, metals and precious metals, resulting in high embodied energy, and the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by the recycling of secondary materials. Improper disposal of WEEE can also lead to damage to the environment. This project will undertake a life cycle assessment of the carbon footprint of WEEE recycling in the UK – calculating the emissions coming from the WEEE transport and recycling supply chain, and deducting the emissions that are avoided by the substitution of virgin materials. Subsequently, optimisation modelling using this data will aid future collection and planning decisions to reduce the supply chain carbon footprint, where possible. Matthew Bond Matthew graduated with a 1st Class degree in Natural Sciences and Business Management from the University of Cambridge. Matthew's interests in decarbonisation and circular economy are drawn on in his MSc-R investigating the carbon footprint of electronic waste recycling in the UK. Academic Supervisors Dr Burak Boyaci Dr Lingxuan Liu Dr Ahmed Kheiri Dr Alison Stowell REPIC Ltd