Information on Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Information on electrical and electronic (waste) equipment

The following information is addressed to private households that use electrical and/or electronic equipment. Please note this important information for the environmentally sound disposal of waste equipment and for your own safety.

1. Information on the disposal of electrical (waste) equipment and the meaning of the symbol according to Annex 3 of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG):

    Owners of waste equipment must ensure that it is collected separately from unsorted municipal waste. Electrical and electronic waste equipment may therefore not be disposed of as unsorted municipal waste and, in particular, does not belong in household waste. Rather, this waste equipment must be collected separately and disposed of, for example, via local collection and return systems.

    Owners of waste equipment must also separate waste batteries and waste accumulators that are not enclosed in the waste equipment, as well as lamps that can be removed from the waste equipment without destruction, before handing them over to a collection point.

    The symbol according to Annex 3 of the ElektroG allows owners to identify waste equipment that must be collected separately from unsorted municipal waste at the end of its service life. The symbol for the separate collection of electrical and electronic equipment is a crossed-out wheeled bin and is designed as follows:

     

    2. Information on the possibility of returning waste equipment for end users:

    End users, as owners of waste equipment, have the following return options:

    a) Return/collection when purchasing new equipment and delivery to a private household

    When concluding a purchase agreement with us for new electrical or electronic equipment, you have the option of returning waste equipment of the same type that essentially performs the same functions as the new equipment, free of charge.

    If the place of delivery is your private household, the return will be made by free collection. For this purpose, you can hand over waste equipment of the same type with essentially the same functions to the delivering transport company when the new equipment is delivered.

    If the new equipment is sold exclusively using means of distance communication (§ 312c para. 2 BGB), the following restrictions apply:

    - Free collection of waste equipment of the same type and function is only available if it is equipment of category 1 (heat exchangers), 2 (screens, monitors, equipment with screens with a surface area of more than 100 square centimeters) and/or 4 (large equipment with at least one external dimension exceeding 50 centimeters).

    - If, instead, it is waste equipment of category 3, 5 and/or 6, free collection will not take place, and instead, the following letter b) applies for free return.

    An overview of the equipment categories and the equipment covered can be found here: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/elektrog_2015/anlage_1.html

    b) Return when purchasing new equipment and delivery elsewhere/return of small equipment

    When concluding a purchase agreement with us for new electrical equipment that is not delivered to the private household, and when selling new equipment of categories 3, 5 and/or 6 exclusively using means of distance communication (§ 312c para. 2 BGB) with delivery to the private household, there is the option of returning waste equipment of the same type that essentially performs the same functions as the new equipment, free of charge.

    The same option exists, regardless of the purchase of new electrical or electronic equipment, for waste equipment that is no larger than 25 centimeters in any external dimension. In this case, the return option for the end user is limited to 3 pieces of waste equipment per type of equipment.

    When selling exclusively using means of distance communication (§ 312c para. 2 BGB), under the aforementioned conditions, the return of

    - waste equipment of categories 3, 5 and/or 6
    - waste equipment that is no larger than 25 centimeters in any external dimension,

    takes place through suitable return options at a reasonable distance from the respective end user.

    Otherwise, the return takes place at the point of delivery or in its immediate vicinity.

     c) Other return options

    Owners of waste equipment from private households can also hand in the waste equipment at the collection points of public waste management authorities or at the take-back points set up by manufacturers or distributors within the meaning of the ElektroG.

    Note on data protection

    Some waste equipment contains sensitive personal data (e.g., on a PC or smartphone) that must not fall into the hands of third parties.

    We expressly point out that end users of waste equipment are solely responsible for deleting personal data on the waste equipment to be disposed of.