Recycling old electrical and electronic devices
Electrical and electronic devices contain materials and substances that can have damaging effects on human health and the environment. To preserve and protect the environment, the European Union issued the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (2012/19/EU – “WEEE Directive”).
The aim of the WEEE Directive is to ensure the environmentally responsible disposal of electrical and electronic devices and strengthen the provisions for recycling. Avoiding waste is the primary objective. Beyond this, re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery should reduce the amount of waste for disposal.
The individual member states have incorporated the WEEE Directive into their respective national laws. These national regulations each contain specific standards for manufacturers and distributors of electrical and electronic goods.
This page covers various ways in which you can responsibly dispose of an old electrical or electronic device.
1 Electrical and electronic devices – Registration in Ireland
As a manufacturer under the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG), we are registered with the responsible national register for waste electric equipment (The Producer Register Limited.) under the following registration number (WEEE Reg. No.): 2993W
2. Electrical and electronic devices – Instructions for disposal
Private households using electrical and/or electronic devices should please take note of the following important instructions to ensure the environmentally responsible disposal of their old devices and their own safety.
a. Disposal of electrical and electronic devices and the meaning of the symbol (crossed-out rubbish bin) according to Annex 3 of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act
Owners of old devices must collect these separately from their unsorted municipal waste. They should separate old batteries and old power packs that are not permanently attached to the old device before handing these over at a collection point. Electrical and electronic devices may not be disposed of with unsorted municipal waste and do not belong in the household waste. Electrical and electronic devices are to be collected separately and disposed of via the local collection and return systems.
You can identify old devices that must be collected separately from unsorted municipal waste by the symbol shown in Annex 3 of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act. The symbol indicating separate collection of electrical and electronic devices is a crossed-out wheeled rubbish bin and is depicted below:
b. Data protection WARNING
Certain electrical and electronic devices contain data storage that may still contain sensitive personal data that should not fall into the hands of third parties. We would like to make you expressly aware that you, as the end user of the old devices, are personally responsible for deleting personal data from the old devices for disposal.
c. Notes on the options for returning old devices for orders to addresses outside of Germany
Ireland
Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH is a member of WEEE Ireland, which is a compliance system authorised in Ireland for the collection, processing and recycling of electronic devices at the end of their service life.
You can also dispose waste electrical and electronic equipment and batteries through your local Civic Amenity Centre. Addresses can be found on the WEEE Ireland website:
Volkswagen Group Charging GmbH is registered with the Producer Register Limited. under the number 2993W.