ZeroNet platform presented to WEEE Forum membership.

The WEEE Forum is the world's largest multi-national centre of competence for the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment/WEEE.

We were delighted to be invited to present the ZeroNet story to a virtually assembled panel of members of the WEEE Forum on Friday 8th April. The WEEE Forum is the world's largest multi-national centre of competence as regards operational know-how concerning the management of waste electrical and electronic equipment (or ‘WEEE’, for short). It is a not-for-profit association of 44 WEEE producer responsibility organisations across the world and was founded in April 2002. The WEEE Forum (https://weee-forum.org/) is present in over 30 countries around the world with a member reach encompassing over 2 billion of the world’s population

One of the biggest challenges associated with WEEE is collection management and the vast WEEE Forum membership is always seeking innovation in collection management.

The ZeroNet platform facilitates a whole new way of recovering post-consumer products and materials from the home in a way that preserves their value. The circular economy demands that materials and products remain in circulation for as long as possible and requires a whole new approach to recovery so as to drive higher second life options such as reuse, refurbishment and remanufacturing.

The ZeroNet – now live in Brighton, UK for 18 months - has facilitated a sea change in the recovery for reuse of post-consumer tech such as smart phones and laptops by offering a secure data erasure service together with the convenience of a doorstep collection. Reuse rates for used tech are now reaching 35%+ - a figure which is unprecedented in the world of domestic e-waste recovery.

The reuse rates that the ZeroNet platform facilitate also extend beyond post-consumer tech equipment and our Brighton based partners Tech-Takeback have also succeeded in driving a very high level of reuse for other kinds of household WEEE, including kitchen appliances! In fact, they have just opened a shop based selling these items, something we believe is a first of a kind.

The Brighton project – delivered in collaboration with our local partners Tech-Takeback and with the support of Brighton and Hove City Council and Material Focus who manage the UK's WEEE compliance fee funding - has succeeded in turning the dial on the reuse of WEEE:

Here are the key facts:

• Around 35% reuse rate for domestically recovered tech items

• This rate of reuse is at parity with the B2B ITAD sector; we believe this to be unprecedented

• A reuse rate of 20%+ for other categories of domestically sourced WEEE, typically household appliances

It was a real honour to be asked to present to such a large and influential group of organisations and we look forward to greater engagement with the WEEE Forum membership in the months and years to come.