FAQs

Our core business is to help the market of manufacturers, retailers, recyclers and network operators to pursue their product stewardship and achieve greater transparency in the take-back, collection and recycling of end-of-life products, thereby reducing costs or even making profits.

We offer you a one-hand solution managed completely by CIRECON and your personal contact in our team. Our partner network allows us to combine the competency of experts in the recycling industry and provide you with:

• Concept creation: During a workshop session we define the most suitable solution for your company strategy.
• Optimization: When operations and regular e-waste handling are properly running, we support you with further recycling ideas based on your analysed data.
• IT Solution: Our portal CIRIS will give you all information on your shipments and your disposed electrical and electronic equipment and will keep your whole team up to date.
• Logistics: Regular pick-ups and the organization of e-waste collection boxes are managed by our recycling partner network and will be based on your requirements individually.
• Pre-processing: Best-process concepts by intelligent sorting rules allow us to save costs within the process from beginning onwards.
• Data security concepts: Data sanitization or data destruction services including the tracking of single units prefent cyber criminality. A certificate as proof for the deletion and destruction of data is issued to our clients.
• Reuse (exclusively upon agreement with our client): Electrical and electronic equipment with reuse potential can be refurbished as a whole unit or partly by dismantling it and reusing the spare parts to benefit from their value.
• Recycling: Partners to recover secondary raw materials within the chain make it possible to close the loop and gain precious metals, like gold, silver, copper and others, out of disposed parts and materials.

Our recycling partner network performs electronics recycling services for the following European WEEE categories:
WEEE 2: Screens and monitors
WEEE 5: Small household appliances
WEEE 6: Small IT and telecommunication equipment
Large household appliances and other electronics can also be recycled on request as part of our e-waste recycling platform services.

In a workshop we develop with you your individual disposal and recycling concept, accompany its implementation, support you with operational processes and provide you our CIRIS portal.
Contact us to find out more and take the next steps with us!
Phone: +49-941-89849-770
E-mail: info@cirecon.de

In short it means: Repair, reuse, recycle! In a circular economy raw materials are used more efficiently and waste is reduced. Existing materials are refurbished and recycled, extending the life cycle of products in this way. And when a product reaches the end of its life, its materials are kept within the economy wherever possible.

Making our economy more circular will

• create new opportunities for growth
• save production cost and create additional value
• reduce waste and make e-waste a usable product
• tap the full potential of end-of-life products
• conserve valuable natural resources
• counter future resource scarcity

If you aren’t familiar with the term circular economy, you probably should be. It’s a concept taking the corporate world by storm even as it penetrates the academic and social science sectors of society.

The circular economy is a sustainable approach to economic principles with an eye toward decreasing dependence on finite resources and addressing the crisis situations currently taking place in our environment. This means more electronics recycling as well as reuse and repair as sustainable options to end-of-life disposal.

Corporations are embracing the circular economy approach by encouraging consumers to do more with less and even decreasing the amount of waste for their own manufacturing and productions methods.

The possibility to get a payment for your disposed electronic products depends on the agreed process, the pick-up frequency, the volumes and your split of different products. Each product group has a different value based on the reuse potential of components, the production date and the composition of material within a unit. Please contact us to get all your questions on these various criteria answered and to receive a non-binding quote.
If you are interested in working with us, we will provide you an access to our CIRIS portal where a list of equipment received so far is displayed including the price you will get per unit or kg for each shipment picked up from your facility.

Not necessarily. Transforming reusable materials extracted from old electronic appliances into the same product is just one option. The main goal of recycling is to ensure that those materials continue to circulate in the economy. Elements recovered from old electrical and electronic equipment can also be reused by other companies for different products.

The following three directives passed by the European Union regulate the authorization to dispose of and recycle waste within the framework of the export of goods:

• European Packaging Directive
• European Battery Directive
• European WEEE Directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment)

WEEE stands for “waste electrical and electronic equipment”. It is end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment and covers virtually everything with a plug or battery. It is classed as either household or non-household WEEE.

No. The European WEEE Directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) has been implemented in national legislation in different ways by the EU member states. Therefore there are individual regulations in the various EU countries which manufacturers and distributors of electrical and electronic equipment have to comply with.

The WEEE regulations affect all companies who put electric or electronic devices on the market, including producers, distributors, importers and sellers, irrespective of the selling technique used and including internet sales. The market comprises private households, industrial units or public institutions.

Under the current WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU (WEEE 2) there are just six product categories:

1) Temperature exchange equipment
2) Screens, monitors and equipment containing screens having a surface greater than 100 cm²
3) Lamps
4) Large equipment with any external dimension > 50 cm
5) Small equipment with no external dimension > 50 cm
6) Small IT and telecommunication equipment with no external dimension > 50 cm

However, the EU countries are free to design and use additional categories and sub-categories.

ElektroG is the national implementation of the European WEEE Directive in Germany. The law serves to regulate the placing of products on the market, the return and disposal of electrical and electronic equipment. It is also intended to regulate the product responsibility of manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment in Germany. Manufacturers, retailers and other companies placing electrical and electronic equipment on the market and being obliged to care for the disposal of products have to contact the EAR foundation and register there. This foundation regulates the registration of products placed on the market and controls the disposal of endconsumer products in the recycling centers within Germany.

CIRIS stands for “CIRECON Reporting & Information System“ and is our innovative recycling portal. It offers several system modules for the handling of e-waste streams, is adapted to customer required service processes and can be accessed by OEMs, ODMs, retailers, repair centers, telecommunication companies and recycling facilities involved in the loop of the circular economy.

Main functions and advantages for e-waste management at a glance:

• easy announcement of e-waste quantities
• financial value overview at time of announcement
• logistics tracking
• reporting of client product naming and WEEE categories
• individual treatment of products defined by clients
• controlling of all processes real-time
• standard reporting
• main base for documents and documentation

Your benefits by using the best-practice solution for disposed electronics:

• Transparency and controlling: Control your processes and recycling rates
• Analyses and forecast: More knowledge on the reuse and recycling potential of electronic waste
• Data safety by preventing data breach and illegal usage
• Green image enhancement by proving certified and documented recycling services
• Strengthening customer loyalty by pointing the way to more social responsibility and sustainability
• IT solution independent of time and place
• Time and cost savings through increased digitization and automation

Within the CIRIS portal you will be able to monitor all shipments created by your team including the entries of your subsidiaries. Each shipment can be tracked by pick-up date, status, weight, recipient company, transport documents and other relevant logistics details. And after the shipment has been picked up, you can check the sorting results including the received product category, the amount or weight, the processing of units and their financial value. Additionally, the recycling rates are collected within the portal and can be exported by you anytime to report this data based on legal requirements or even to check your recycling outcome with the recycling barometer. A dashboard displaying cumulated data in one view keeps everybody updated at a glance.

CIRIS is a B2B platform and open to all companies that generate e-waste or are obliged to collect e-waste from their end consumers.
Moreover CIRIS is accessed by waste management companies who are included in the partner network of CIRECON and have all required certifications and licenses. Private persons cannot use the CIRIS portal.

Yes, of course CIRIS can be integrated easily in your existing corporate processes: We have developed our software from everyday experience for everyday use following the usual e-waste handling processes, electronic waste being picked up from and distributed to different locations.
The treatment of the products can be set up dependent on your company’s requirements and reported accordingly. Moreover we have added features such as legally compliant documentation.

No. CIRIS is designed as Software as a Service (SaaS). Software and IT infrastructure are operated by us and will be used by your company as a service. For the use of this online service you just need the usual internet-enabled computers, tablets or smartphones. Access to the software is easily done via web browsers.

Being a Software as a Service, purchase and implementation costs for our CIRIS platform are rather low. We care for the complete IT administration including maintenance and updates in the background, and you can concentrate on your core business.
We can at any time implement additional functions and modules in the running system and make them available overnight – without installation on site or any functions being impaired.

No special IT knowledge is required for using our CIRIS system. The software has been developed providing an intuitive start for as many people as possible involved in the entire WEEE process.

Yes, of course. And in addition to various standard reports, dashboards and ad hoc data exports are available for CIRIS users.

We take the protection of your personal data from external influences very seriously.
All your data will be transmitted via the secure industry standard “SSL” and stored encrypted exclusively on German servers. Moreover we fulfil the ISO 27001 certification requirements. In principle, all your data can only be viewed via your personal login.

You can get started at any time: Contact us and we will create your personal account for CIRIS. It’s a matter of seconds!

There are several options to dispose of your e-waste for free!
Option 1: You can either go to your local recycling center and throw your e-waste products into the bins divided by type of waste. Please take care to throw your product into the correct recycling bin as several waste types exist.
Option 2: Retailers (i.e. specialised electronics stores with a sales area of at least 400m² for electrical appliances) are legally obliged to take back old electrical appliances free of charge. This means that you can return up to five old devices that are no larger than 25 cm free of charge at a retail store. In case you bought your product in an online shop, you need to check the take-back opportunities of your e-tailer. Most of them offer drop-off points or solutions in cooperation with logistics companies to pick up your unit. Please take care to take out the accumulator or battery out of the unit if it is not permanently installed. For batteries and accumulators there are separate collection containers at the WEEE return points.
If you buy a new large household product, e.g. a washing machine, you have the right to return an old large household product to the seller or allow the seller to pick up the unit when delivering the new one.

Category 1: Temperature exchange equipment (e.g. refrigerators, freezers, air-conditioning equipment and other temperature exchange equipment using fluids other than water for the temperature exchange)
Category 2: Screens, monitors, and equipment containing screens having a surface greater than 100 cm2 (e.g. screens, televisions, LCD photo frames, monitors, laptops, notebooks, tablets, eBooks)
Category 3: Lamps (e.g. fluorescent lamps, high intensity discharge lamps, low pressure sodium lamps, LEDs)
Category 4: Large equipment (any external dimension more than 50 cm) (e.g. washing machines, clothes dryers, dish washing machines, cookers, electric hot plates, musical equipment, large computer-mainframes, large printing machines, copying equipment, photovoltaic panels)
Category 5: Small equipment (no external dimension more than 50 cm) (e.g. vacuum cleaners, microwaves, ventilation equipment, irons, toasters, electric kettles, electric shavers, scales, digital cameras, video cameras)
Category 6: Small IT and telecommunication equipment (no external dimension more than 50 cm) (e.g. mobile phones, smartphones, GPS and navigation equipment, pocket calculators, routers, personal computers, printers, telephones)

If you have an old electrical and electronic device at home and don’t use it anymore, it doesn’t mean that you have to throw it away.
The internet offers a lot of other solutions for a second life of your device:
1. Resell: You can also try to resell your old device to a private person or visit online platforms. Especially online solutions, where the expected price is directly displayed, can be used to sell mobile and smartphones. The age and condition of the device and any accessories that may be available affect the price you get paid.
2. Donate: Some organisations on the market collect old devices and refurbish them or take out valuable components with resell potential. They use the proceeds to finance environmental protection projects.
3. Repair: Reuse is always better for the environment than disposal. If a repair is not possible from retailer or manufacturer perspective you can try to repair the device on your own or visit a repair café, where you can exchange your knowledge with other people being interested in repairing electrical and electronic devices.