EU Reuse and Refurbishment Programs

Kodak Alaris has been managing its electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) in a closed loop program long before the EU introduced the Waste Electrical and Electronic (WEEE) Directive http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/index_en.htm .  Our equipment designers follow Design for the Environment (DfE) principles to take dismantling and refurbishment requirements into account and thereby maximize the reuse potential.  This follows the EU’s Waste Hierarchy for Treatment that identifies reuse as the best environmental option for treatment.

When our customers no longer need the equipment, usually because they are upgrading to newer models, Kodak Alaris arranges for the items to be collected at no cost.  Most collected EEE is either upgraded and returned to the same customer or sent to new customers in countries across Europe, Africa or the Middle East at a lower cost than a new model.  This qualifies under EU law as re-use and provides customer in other countries access to cheaper equipment than buying new.

For example kiosks, order stations, printers, computing peripherals, APEX and Scanners are collected across Europe.  This equipment is transported across national boundaries in accordance Trans-Frontier Shipment (TFS) Regulations to specific treatment centers in Germany.  Here they are inspected for their suitability for reuse/refurbishment.

Refurbishing equipment for reuse in a well-managed closed loop system ensures that adverse environmental impacts associated with waste treatment are minimized as far as reasonably practicable.   All our EEE are in the scope of WEEE such that the collection and treatment needs to meet the EU requirements.

Operations start with an inspection and assessment of the equipment.  Very little equipment is a real waste as most can be reused.  Equipment for refurbishment is cleaned thoroughly, tested and enhanced cosmetically.  It is critical not to impact the original Product Safety (PS) and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) performance to avoid invalidating the Declaration of Conformity (DoC) and CE marking.  Otherwise the equipment would require retesting.  Hence refurbishment/repairing only replaces worn out components with identical parts and any software upgrades do not affect the PS or EMC properties.

The process ensures that the refurbished item performs exactly as well as the original and in some cases better if it has been upgraded. Hence, the original CE marking remains applicable and the DoC does not need updating.

Finally, any EEE that cannot be repaired or refurbished for reuse is dismantled carefully.  All usable components are catalogued and stored as spare parts for repairing and refurbishing other items.  This ensures that the amount of actual waste is kept to an absolute minimum and keeps our environmental impact as low as reasonably practicable as well as meeting the WEEE treatment obligations in Germany.