What Are E-Waste?

E-waste, an abbreviation for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), includes all broken, unused, or unnecessary electrical and electronic devices. These are devices powered by electricity or batteries. E-waste should not be disposed of in regular municipal waste bins. The proper place for them is designated collection points for electronic and electrical waste, found in most Polish cities and towns. Some cities and municipalities, such as Kraków, offer their residents free collection of large e-waste items. It's sufficient to call a toll-free number, and a team of specialists will come and collect items like old washing machines, refrigerators, computers, or other home appliances for free. Discarding e-waste improperly, such as in the wrong container or at illegal dumpsites, can result in severe financial penalties. The maximum fine for this offense is 5,000 Polish złoty.

Where to Dispose of E-Waste?

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, e-waste should be taken to designated collection points for this type of waste. Official collections, managed by cities, ensure that old electronic and electrical equipment ends up in the right place—a facility where it will be subjected to recovery and recycling. Valuable materials can be extracted from many types of e-waste, reducing environmental pollution and significantly lowering the production costs of certain processes that utilize these recovered materials.

Where to Donate E-Waste?

Apart from collection points run by cities or municipalities, where you can personally deliver old and used electronic and electrical equipment, there is another option for donating e-waste. These are e-scrap collection points, one of which is located in Kraków at 5 Drożdżowa Street. The advantage of this solution is the opportunity to earn money by selling some e-waste items (in our collection point, we buy electronic components, printed circuit boards, processors, and power supplies, among others). We offer nationwide collection services (courier services are available only for electronic components weighing over 5 kg). We update our price list daily. We pay in full for computers, laptops, mobile phones, and tablets, while other e-waste items are accepted free of charge.

The list of entities where you can donate e-waste in Kraków includes dozens of entries. This list categorizes companies into three categories:

• Companies collecting used electrical and electronic equipment from households (Geomar Recykling is among them).
• Retail outlets accepting used electrical and electronic equipment under the model where you can return one of the same type when purchasing new equipment.
• Pharmacies accepting used electrical and electronic equipment under the model where you can return one of the same type when purchasing new equipment.

More information on this topic and the list of entities can be found on the MPO website.

Proper Management of E-Waste

One of the areas of our company's activities is electronic recycling. Through these efforts, we obtain precious metals and other materials from e-waste that can be reused in the production process. Electronic recycling is environmentally friendly and energy-saving. We employ technologies and processing methods that give a second life to many components from e-waste that arrive at our processing facility.