Collect and recycle
electrical appliances
Electrical appliances are made up of many different materials, usually in the form of a mixture of complex composite materials, which may contain relatively unproblematic materials such as metals, glass and recyclable plastics, but also toxic substances such as PCBs, mercury, cadmium and others, as well as CFCs for refrigeration appliances. Then there are plastics treated with flame retardants and other chemicals that make recycling impossible.
When it is no longer possible to avoid waste, it is the municipalities/unions of municipalities, as well as specialized private and social economy companies, which ensure that the appliances are collected in the correct way, then processed for recovery or dismantled in specific treatment companies, so that as many of their components as possible can be reintegrated into the economic cycle and the hazardous materials disposed of in the correct way.
Ecotrel asbl is responsible for ecological collection and recycling. This not-for-profit association currently brings together more than 780 Luxembourg companies which import and sell electrical and electronic appliances in Luxembourg, to organize the collection and disposal of these appliances throughout the country in accordance with legal provisions.
Consumers have various options for handing in their electrical and electronic equipment. This website provides information on what’s on offer in your local area.
Small electrical household appliances such as hairdryers, coffee machines, toasters, etc. can also be handed in at the SuperDrecksKëscht® fir Bierger mobile collection points.
You can find the dates for your local authority here.
You can find all the information you need on the environmentally friendly take-back of electrical appliances at www.ecotrel.lu.
Under no circumstances should you hand over your appliances to a scrap dealer or recycling company that is not authorized by the relevant waste authorities. The high price of metals and raw materials means that this is often only in the interests of the economy. Ecological recycling cannot be guaranteed.
social reuse
As of 2018, ECOTREL has set up the Social ReUse initiative with several Resources Centers. This project aims to promote the repair and reuse of waste equipment and electronics that citizens bring back to these centers.
The initial initiative was to enable the operators of the recycling centers to carry out a diagnostic on household appliances to determine the extent to which they can be prepared for re-use, or even repaired by social economy service providers and put back into circulation via their distribution networks.
The appliances that can be reused are listed in four separate categories: large appliances (oven, washing machine, washing machine), small appliances (hoover, coffee machine, blender), IT appliances (tablet, smartphone, laptop) and screens and audio equipment. To comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), IT appliances are subject to complete erasure of personal data.
A large proportion of the reusable equipment is put back on the market by Nei Aarbecht in its shop in Helmdange.
ASBL Digital offers laptops and computers to people who need access to information technology.
At present, more than 250 devices are collected from these depots every month, and more than 70% are given a second life. In this process, criteria such as reparability, energy consumption and repair costs are considered before these devices are put back on the Luxembourg market.
ECOTREL’s aim is to increase the useful life of appliances by offering them to the general public, while promoting social inclusion.