Information for Private Households
The Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG) contains a variety of requirements regarding the handling of electrical and electronic equipment. The most important ones are summarized here.
Separate Collection of Old Devices
Electrical and electronic equipment that has become waste is referred to as old devices. Owners of old devices must ensure that they are collected separately from unsorted municipal waste. Old devices, in particular, should not be disposed of in household waste but should be taken to special collection and return systems.
Batteries, Accumulators, and Lamps
Owners of old devices must, as a rule, separate old batteries and accumulators that are not enclosed by the old device, as well as lamps that can be removed from the old device without destruction, before handing them in at a collection point. This does not apply if old devices are being prepared for reuse with the involvement of a public waste disposal authority.
Options for Returning Old Devices
Owners of old devices from private households can return them free of charge at collection points established by public waste disposal authorities or at return points set up by manufacturers or distributors as defined by the ElektroG.
Businesses with a sales area of at least 400 m² for electrical and electronic equipment and those food stores with a total sales area of at least 800 m², which offer and provide electrical and electronic equipment several times a year or permanently on the market, are obliged to take back old devices. This also applies to distribution using telecommunications means if the storage and shipping areas for electrical and electronic equipment are at least 400 m² or the total storage and shipping areas are at least 800 m². Distributors must generally ensure the return by providing suitable return options within reasonable distance to the respective end user.
The option for free return of an old device exists with obligated distributors, among other cases, when a new device of the same type, essentially fulfilling the same functions, is provided to an end user. When a new device is delivered to a private household, the old device of the same type can also be handed over there for free collection; this applies to distribution using telecommunications means for devices of categories 1, 2, or 4 according to § 2 (1) ElektroG, namely "heat exchangers," "screen devices," or "large devices" (the latter with at least one outer dimension over 50 centimeters). End users are asked about their intention to return when concluding a purchase contract. Additionally, the option for free return exists at distributors' collection points independent of the purchase of a new device for those old devices that are not larger than 25 centimeters in any outer dimension, limited to three old devices per device type.
Grafe Engineering Office does not have a sales area of at least 400 m² and no storage area of at least 800 m².
Data Protection Notice
Old devices often contain sensitive personal data, especially devices of information and telecommunication technology such as computers and smartphones. For your own interest, please note that each end user is responsible for deleting the data on the old devices to be disposed of.
Meaning of the Symbol "Crossed-out Wheeled Bin"
The symbol of a crossed-out wheeled bin regularly depicted on electrical and electronic equipment indicates that the respective device is to be collected separately from unsorted municipal waste at the end of its life cycle.
Manufacturer Information according to § 18 (4) ElektroG (new)