OUR OPERATIONS 2011

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Things are going well! Throughout 2011, changes have occ-urred that strengthen our operations. It is noticeable that awareness has increased and the Swedish public have gen-erally become even better at depositing electrical goods and batteries for recycling. In other words, we have a very high minimum level in this country.

We conducted our Recycling Weekend for the second year in a row, and the results were even better than the previous year, thanks to all the municipalities and other players who supp-

orted the initiative with their own local activities. During the recycling year 2011, we recycled a total of 154,185 tonnes, which equates to 16.27 kilos per person.

The trend for collecting more products year-on-year remains strong. We have more affiliated customers today than ever be-fore – covering both electrical equipment and batteries.

So thank you for being so good!

THANKS FOR BEING SO GOOD!

COLLECTIONAs a committed recycling nation, Sweden increased its colle-ction of electrical goods and batteries by 2.5% between 2010 and 2011. Each Swede deposited an average of 16.27 kg in 2011. That means a huge 154,185 tonnes of electricals for the El-Kretsen system as a whole. We deposited 82 million defunct products in total, and that’s not counting all the batteries!

MUNICIPAL WORKCollaboration with the municipalities is working well and is seeing positive development. The launch of the new Collection Point Portal, where the municipal recycling centres report their figures, offers a greater opportunity to monitor electrical and electronic waste than was previously the case. We are continu-ing our joint work on the website www.sopor.nu, for which we contributed several texts about electrical goods and batteries over the year. At the end of the year, we also began work on a joint campaign regarding lighting and light sources. The cam-paign will see the light of day in 2012.

CUSTOMERSWe are seeing excellent customer development. In 2011, 140 new product and battery producers affiliated themselves with El-Kretsen. 170 new companies have also chosen to sign a re-porting agreement with us, a service that makes El-Kretsen re-sponsible for the annual report to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. We thank them for their trust in us.

CUSTOMER SEMINARSEl-Kretsen held two different seminars during the year. May included visits to Malmö and Stockholm to promote our activi-ties in general and the Declaration Portal in particular. We ran through our operations and showed how the various pieces of the jigsaw – collection, logistics, recycling and producer responsibility – fit together. By November, it was time once

again for a new seminar tour, this time to Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm. The November seminar focused on the new re-payment system. The response from participants was superb and many spontaneous questions came up for discussion.

MUNICIPALITY SEMINARSA number of municipality seminars were held in 10 locations around Sweden in the autumn. Participant numbers were high, as were commitment levels. The content focused largely on theory and practice, and the strong interest from participants confirms that the initiative was much appreciated.

CUSTOMER SURVEYThe annual customer survey was carried out in December. The results show that the new Declaration Portal is popular and gave us a good basis for making improvements in other areas.

Our newsletters clearly fulfil a need, since year after year they have very high readership figures. Readers have expressed a desire for more information about legislation and statistics, but also general information associated with our activities. This is something we will be doing in 2012!

The survey also shows an improvement in attitudes towards our brand, El-Kretsen: the keywords efficient, environmen-tally committed and non-bureaucratic have all experienced in-creased support in comparison with 2010’s customer survey.

SMALL ELECTRICALS PROJECTThe small electricals bin launched in Bromma by City Commis-sioner Ulla Hamilton in September marks a continuation of the projects that El-Kretsen runs in partnership with the munici-palities. The objective is to expand access to recycling facilities for everyday electrical goods such as batteries, light sources and small electrical

2011 IN SUMMARY

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Mobile cases could be produced from the plastic recycled in 2011 from 177,000 hair dryers.

3 MILLIONi

RECYCLING COMPARISONRECYCLED (WEIGHT IN TONNES) 2009 2010 2011LARGE HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES 66 565 68 318 67 243SMALL HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES 6 161 8 207 5 588IT, TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND OFFICE EQUIPMENT 26 846 28 690 28 355HOME EQUIPMENT (TV, AUDIO AND VIDEO EQUIPMENT) 33 151 30 626 31 082LIGHTING 6 897 7 258 9 249ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC TOOLS 1 014 1 559 1 926TOYS AND LEISURE/SPORTS EQUIPMENT 280 699 701MEDICAL EQUIPMENT 111 419 306SURVEILLANCE AND SECURITY EQUIPMENT 85 82 196BATTERIES 1 723 2 766 3 202OTHER 8 031 1 322 1 372TOTAL 148 339 150 402 154 186

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RECYCLING TOTALS 2011

RECYCLING PER PERSON

* Delivery certification means that enterprises covered by producer responsibility can deposit used electrical goods with one of El-Kretsen’s contracted preprocessing companies, or they can hire a skip from El-Kretsen and become a collection point. Enterprises are companies, organisations, industries, etc.

MATERIAL TONNES ASSORTED ELECTRICAL GOODS 85 963 FRIDGES AND FREEZERS 26 574 WHITE GOODS 34 266 BATTERIES 3 202 GAS-DISCHARGE LAMPS 2 212 NON GAS-DISCHARGE LAMPS 596 DEPOSITED WITH DELIVERY CERTIFICATION* 1 372TOTAL 154 186

2008(EXCLUDING BATTERIES)

2007(EXCLUDING BATTERIES)

14

15

16

17

18

2009 2010 2011

KG

YEAR

The target for the reported years has been 4 kg of recycled electricals per person per year. The table shows El-Kretsen’s results per person per year.

RECYCLED 2011 BY CATEGORY

ASSORTED ELECTRICAL GOODS**

ASSORTED ELECTRICAL GOODS TOTAL

TELEVISIONS AND MONITORS

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MATERIAL KG/TONNES % IRON 390 39,0% PLASTIC 170 17,0% COPPER 63 6,3% ALUMINIUM 62 6,2% OTHER METALS 10 1,0% SILVER 0,116 0,012% GOLD 0,0099 0,001% PALLADIUM 0,0046 0,0005% NON-RECYCLABLE MATERIALS* 235 23,5% ENERGY RECOVERY 70 7,0% TOTAL 1000 100%

MATERIAL KG/TONNES % MONITOR GLASS 250 25,0% IRON 228 22,8% PLASTIC 160 16,0% COPPER 54 5,4% ALUMINIUM 36 3,6% OTHER METALS 5 0,5% SILVER 0,058 0,006% GOLD 0,0049 0,0005% PALLADIUM 0,0023 0,0002% NON-RECYCLABLE MATERIALS* 205 20,5% ENERGY RECOVERY 63 6,3%

TOTAL 1000 100%

* Non-recyclable materials primarily means residual products from the recycling process, e.g. slag after incineration.** Televisions and monitors are not included in this table.*** Low-energy bulbs, fluorescent tubes and mercury bulbs.**** The batteries category merges all types of batteries with different chemical compositions.

The tables show an average level of recycling in percent based on 1,000 kg for each material.

MATERIAL KG/TONNES % MONITOR GLASS 500 50,0% PLASTIC 150 15,0% IRON 65 6,5% COPPER 45 4,5% ALUMINIUM 10 1,0% NON-RECYCLABLE MATERIALS* 175 17,5% ENERGY RECOVERY 55 5,5% TOTAL 1000 100%

WHITE GOODS FRIDGES AND FREEZERS

GAS-DISCHARGE LAMPS***

BATTERIES****

NON GAS-DISCHARGE LAMPS

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MATERIAL KG/TONNES % GLASS 605 60,5% ALUMINIUM 231 23,1% ENERGY RECOVERY 140 14,0% PHOSPHORS 24 2,4% TOTAL 1000 100%

MATERIAL KG/TONNES % GLASS 570 57,0% ALUMINIUM 380 38,0% ENERGY RECOVERY 50 5,0% TOTAL 1000 100%

MATERIAL KG/TONNES % IRON 700 70,0% PLASTIC 120 12,0% ALUMINIUM 27 2,7% COPPER 20 2,0% CFCS 9 0,9% GLASS 7 0,7% NON-RECYCLABLE MATERIALS* 26 2,6% ENERGY RECOVERY 91 9,1% TOTAL 1000 100%

MATERIAL KG/TONNES % IRON 232 23,2% ZINC 212 21,2% LEAD 37 3,7% NICKEL 31 3,1% CADMIUM 19 1,9% LITHIUM 6 0,6% OTHER METALS 3 0,3% COBALT 3 0,3% ALUMINIUM 2 0,2% NON-RECYCLABLE MATERIALS* 343 34,3% ENERGY RECOVERY 112 11,2% TOTAL 1000 100%

MATERIAL KG/TONNES % IRON 680 68,0% ALUMINIUM 21 2,1% COPPER 15 1,5% NICKEL 5 0,5% PLASTIC 4 0,4% NON-RECYCLABLE MATERIALS* 183 18,3% ENERGY RECOVERY 92 9,2% TOTAL 1000 100%

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What is the actual process of turning a discarded toaster into an electrical toy, or recycling a TV into a coffee machine? When householders deposit their old electrical equipment at the mu-nicipal recycling centre, our transport contractors transfer it to a recycling plant, where it is disassembled into its consti-tuent parts before being returned to the production process as new raw material. This closes the circle and our use of every-day electrical equipment places less of a burden on nature’s resources.

HOW IT HAPPENSElectrical products and batteries deposited at a recycling cen-tre are transported onwards to one of 20 or so recycling plants chosen by El-Kretsen.

Here the products are unloaded and registered before under-going initial sorting and disassembly. Disassembly involves removing environmentally hazardous substances and compo-nents that require special processing. Each material is sepa-rated out for recycling in processes tailored to the material in question. Plastic in one process, metal in another. Then, the various categories are refined to produce new raw materials or energy.

The procedure for this initial preprocessing is set out in legisla-tion and in agreements between El-Kretsen and the recycling companies, all of which govern which substances and compo-nents have to be disassembled and what proportion of a pro-duct can be recycled.

COLLECTION STATIONSSweden has around 600 recycling centres where household-ers can deposit their used electrical goods free of charge. The household collection system is called elretur and is run in col-laboration with Sweden’s municipalities, which pay for and staff the recycling centres.

At the recycling centres, electricals/electronics are sorted into seven different categories:

• Assorted electrical goods• Televisions and monitors• Fridges and freezers• Large white goods• Lighting• Fluorescent tubes• Portable batteries

To make things easier for consumers, there are also local municipal systems in closer proximity to residential areas. In some cases, these systems are run in project form in partner-ship with El-Kretsen. Across the country, there are also almost 10,000 bins specifically for used batteries. In addition, El-Kret-sen has around 550 private collection points, where electricals and batteries from businesses and organisations are collected and taken off for recycling.

TRANSPORT COMPANIESWhen the recycling centres or private collection points report to the municipality on what they have collected, a message is also sent to the 20 or so transport companies that handle the logistics between the recycling centre and the recycling plant. Each transport company works on behalf of El-Kretsen within a specific geographical area and focuses on a particular category of recycling. They collect full crates and containers and drive them to a set recycling plant. The driver reads the weight and content of all the containers using a barcode that is scanned on collection and registered in our system. This al-lows us to track each load from the collection point to the re-cycling plant.

RECYCLING PLANTThe certified recycling plants are appointed by El-Kretsen based on technical expertise, price and geographical location. At the plant, all the collected electrical equipment is disass-embled and processed, and finally sorted so that it can be re-turned to the production process as a new raw material. This is an incredibly important process that enables us to use the same material resources again and again. This helps to save the environment and to establish a satisfactory ecocycle.

THE ROUTE BACK

Carrier bags could be produced from the plastic recycled in 2011 from 1,000,000 coffee machines.

78.9 MILLIONi

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LARGE WHITE GOODSDuring 2011, preprocessing and transport services were pro-cured for the Large White Goods category. The procurement was conducted through an open tender. All those who met the criteria regarding quality and the environment had the oppor-tunity to submit a bid. Tenders for the preprocessing of Large White Goods came in from both Swedish and Norwegian recy-

cling companies. In addition to quality and the environment, the deciding factors for the tender included technical exper-tise, geographical location and price.

The results of the procurement can be seen on the map to the right.

Everyday electrical items contain materials that can be recy-cled as new raw materials or energy, plus toxic substances that can be hazardous to nature. This requires high standards of preprocessing and recycling. The processes must be both eco-friendly and resource-efficient.

Before disassembly, the products are divided into five catego-ries, since each category is recycled in a different way. Here you can read about how that happens and what is converted into new raw materials and new energy.

ASSORTED ELECTRICAL GOODSThe product group Assorted Electrical Goods accounts for over half of the total weight recycled. This includes televisions, mo-bile phones, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners, toys, tools and so on. Many products in the category are processed using the same processes. Others are sorted out for special treat-ment. TVs have to be preprocessed manually, while other prod-ucts can be preprocessed automatically.

Some products contain PCBs that have to be removed before metal parts are recycled, including batteries, mercury relays and capacitors. Once the environmentally hazardous sub-stances have been removed, the metal parts can be recycled. At the smelting plant, copper, aluminium and iron are recov-ered as raw materials for new products. The most valuable raw materials are found in the circuit boards in computers, mobiles and other IT products, which contain both gold and silver. Cer-tain plastics and glass can be re-used and the plastics, textiles and wood that can’t be recycled are sent for energy recovery and district heating. The exhaust gases are cleaned and any pollutants captured.

LARGE WHITE GOODSThe category Large White Goods mostly comprises dishwash-ers, washing machines and cookers. These may contain capac-itors that use environmentally hazardous substances such as PCBs. Particular parts are therefore removed by hand before the white goods are pulled apart in the fragmenting plant that separates out the metals. The various metals are then recy-cled for use in new products. White goods mostly contain steel, but also have some aluminium and copper in them.

FRIDGES AND FREEZERSOld fridges and freezers contain CFCs that contribute to the greenhouse effect and destroy the ozone layer. The CFCs are therefore processed in two stages. First, the cooling system is punctured and the refrigerant sucked out with a vacuum. Then the compressor is disassembled and emptied of oil. The two stages are carried out in a closed process in order to deal with the CFCs in isolation. Once the CFCs and oil have gone, the me-tals and plastics are separated out for recycling into new prod-ucts. The CFCs are destroyed at extremely high temperatures or converted into saltwater.

LIGHTINGFluorescent tubes and low-energy bulbs are lined with phos-phors that contain mercury. The main focus of recycling fluo-rescent tubes and low-energy bulbs is therefore on dealing with the mercury safely. This is done by driving the mercury out of the phosphor powder.

The process is carried out exclusively by Sweden Recycling in Hovmantorp, where El-Kretsen sends all the light bulbs and tubes that it collects. The bulbs are crushed in a closed system and then washed in a fluid that oxidises and binds the mer-cury. The phosphor powder and mercury are separated from the fluid and captured in closed containers. After the separa-tion process, the clean glass is sent for recycling, where it is melted down and used in the production of new glass bottles. Metal and electrical waste is sent to specialist recycling com-panies that recycle metals and plastics.

Incandescent bulbs and LED bulbs are also processed in the same way as fluorescent tubes and low-energy bulbs. Straight fluorescent tubes over 60 cm long are processed in a special machine that removes the ends and blasts tubes clean. The Lighting group includes all types of small bulbs.

BATTERY RECYCLINGSweden is particularly good at recycling used batteries. But what actually happens to the batteries handed in? All batteries have to be recycled, non are permitted to go to landfill. Those are the rules. The chemical composition of the battery deter-mines the nature of the preprocessing. Most battery types can have their materials recycled through smelting and distillation.

PROCUREMENT

CORRECT SORTING KEY

CATCHMENT AREAS 2011

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Recycling is split into five different categories, or segments. The maps below show where the electrical goods collected in each segment are dealt with and by which partner.

ASSORTED ELECTRICAL GOODS Bodens kommun

Jönköpings kommun

KS Recycling: Malmö

Kuusakoski: Skellefteå

Kuusakoski: Spånga

Kuusakoski: Timrå

Kuusakoski: Vetlanda

Lindberg & Son: Forsbacka

SRS*: Katrineholm

Stena Techworld: Bräcke-Hoby

Stena Techworld: Vänersborg

Stena Techworld: Västerås

Uppsala kommun

Örnsköldsviks kommun

LARGE WHITE GOODS Ragn-Sells: Västerås

Stena: Huddinge

Kuusakoski: Gävle

Lantz: Norrköping

Stena: Malmö

Skrotfrag: Oskarshamn

Kuusakoski: Karlshamn

Kuusakoski: Stenkullen

Kuusakoski: Skellefteå

Sorterarna: Kristianstad

FRIDGES AND FREEZERS Bjästa Återvinning

Revac: Revetal (No)

SFÅ: Hässelby

Skrotfrag: Järna

Stena: Halmstad

BATTERIES Akkuser OY: Nivala (Fi)

Renova: Göteborg

LIGHTINGAll collected lighting is recycled by Sweden Nordic Recycling: Hovmantorp.

* Sims Recycling Solutions

20 PERCENTi That’s how much low-energy bulb recycling rose between 2011 and 2010. At the same time, sales of low-energy bulbs fell by 15%.

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10TH ANNIVERSARY2011 marked El-Kretsen’s 10th year promoting the cause of re-cycling. A great deal has been achieved over the years that we have been in business. The producer responsibility that was introduced across Europe in 2005 for small electricals and in 2009 for batteries can be seen as a key milestone for us. We celebrated our anniversary with customers, municipalities and other partners. The festivities shone a spotlight on the future from a political and an industrial perspective. A lot is happen-ing in the world of electrical recycling, so this provided an ideal opportunity both for reflection and for expressing our vision.

RECYCLING WEEKENDWe conducted our nationwide Recycling Weekend for the sec-ond year in a row. The campaign element included information for the municipalities, campaign T-shirts with information for the recycling centres and campaign information for the pro-ducers. The campaign focused on recycling everyday electrical goods and emphasised the value of recycling even the small-est of electrical products. Outdoor posters were the core medi-um in the nationwide campaign, which was supplemented with advertising in the daily press, on mobile phones and on web banners. Several municipalities got involved this year, holding their own local activities, which gave the campaign an even better reach than in the previous year.

MOBILE APPIn the lead-up to the Recycling Weekend, we launched the mo-bile app Återvinn (Recycle). It is available for both the iPhone and Android devices, and provides information about the near-est recycling centre and its opening times. It also provides descriptions of the various recycling segments, together with fun and interesting facts relating to selected examples of re-cycling.

THE EL-KRETSEN BLOG2011 was the year that El-Kretsen started blogging, albeit on a modest scale. We want to make use of all possible channels and develop opportunities for conducting a dialogue with our target groups. New media also offer us a chance to interact more closely with the up-and-coming generation and the recy-clers of the future.

COLLECTION POINT PORTALA brand new Collection Point Portal was launched during the year. This is where the municipalities report the levels of col-lected electrical waste, and there are now new and improved facilities for tracking the whole flow from the initial reporting to transport. It is also possible to see what quantity of electri-cal goods has been collected, both in Sweden as a whole over the year and at the municipalities’ own recycling centres. This is valuable information that the municipalities can put to good use in planning resources and implementing various meas-ures.

MARKETING MATERIAL

Mobile app with search function for the nearestrecycling centre plus facts about products and recycling.

OWNERSElektronikBranschenSvensk DagligvaruhandelSveriges Bygg- och Järnhandlareförbunds Service ABEHL – Elektriska Hushållsapparat LeverantörerSRL – Sveriges Radio- och HemelektronikleverantörerIT & TelekomföretagenBrandvarnargruppenCANT – Centrala AntennföreningenLEH – Leverantörsföreningen för Elektriska HandverktygLLB – Branschföreningen Ljud, Ljus & Bild för professionellt brukMTB MobilTeleBranschenSLF – Sjukvårdens Leverantörsförening (Swedish Medtech)KEPA – Branschföreningen för Kontors-artiklar, Emballage, Pappersprodukter & Angränsande produktområdenLeksaksbranschenE.L. Elmateriel Leverantörernas föreningFöreningen HemljusBelysningsbranschenLEH - Leverantörsföreningen för Elektriska HandverktygKTF Organisation AB (Intressentbransch: IIH – Branschför. för Industriell och Institutionell Hygien)Branschorganisationen Svensk ElektronikLeverantörsföreningen för PrimärbatterierStiftelsen Branschorganisationernas Kansli

BOARDChairman:Bo Thunberg

Board members:Anders AppelqvistPer BaummannMagnus FrantzellThomas HedinMats HolmeMatts Spångberg

Deputy board members:Klas ElmUlf S Gustafsson

CUSTOMERSElectrical goods customers – 1,448Affiliation contracts for electricals, WEEE Directive.

Battery customers – 852Affiliation contracts for batteries, Battery Directive.

Financial guarantee – 843Agreements for financial guarantees, associated with the WEEE Directive.

Reporting agreements electrical goods – 1,046Reporting agreements batteries – 649Reporting agreements whereby El-Kretsen makes the annu-al report to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

Affiliated customers in each category, WEEE Directive:1) Large household appliances – 1362) Small household appliances – 2923) IT, telecommunications and office equipment – 4454) Home equipment (TV, audio and video equipment) – 2445) Lighting – 3966) Electrical and electronic tools – 1627) Toys and leisure/sports equipment – 1428) Medical equipment – 2179) Surveillance and security equipment – 141

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Klara Norra Kyrkogata 31, 111 83 StockholmPhone: 08-545 212 90 E-mail: info@el-kretsen.se

www.el-kretsen.se