Invisible electronic waste includes everything that has a plug, cable or battery, even if these are not recognizable at first glance:

• Furniture with permanently integrated lighting or loudspeakers
• Illuminated mirrors
• smart or intelligent clothing, such as flashing shoes and heated gloves
• Toys that talk, sing or produce other sounds
• singing greeting cards
• e-cigarettes
• all devices that can be controlled via app or Bluetooth.

• Via the ELW:
  You can dispose of electrical appliances at the recycling centers and the small collection point at the landfill. Small electrical appliances are accepted by the mobile hazardous waste collection service; large appliances are collected from bulky waste.
• In shops:
  • When purchasing a new appliance of the same type
  • Appliances whose largest edge length is 25 cm.

The take-back obligation applies to stores that sell electrical and electronic appliances over an area of at least 400 square meters. Larger supermarkets are also obliged to take back small old electrical appliances under certain conditions. You can find detailed information under the ELW link.

Just like conventional electrical appliances, invisible electrical appliances contain valuable raw materials such as gold, silver or copper. These raw materials are very difficult to extract and cause major environmental damage. This makes it all the more important to recover and reuse them from old electrical appliances. Recycling these raw materials is only possible if the appliances are disposed of correctly and not incinerated as household waste.

Another aspect is the harmful substances contained in electrical appliances, such as lead and flame retardants, as well as batteries and rechargeable batteries. If these are not disposed of properly, they can poison the environment or - in the case of batteries and rechargeable batteries - cause fires.