Disposal of old appliances

Information on electrical and electronic (old) appliances

The following information is aimed at private households that use electrical and/or electronic appliances. Please follow these important instructions in the interest of environmentally friendly disposal of old appliances and your own safety.

1. information on the disposal of (old) electrical appliances and the meaning of the symbol according to Annex 3 of the ElektroG:

Owners of old appliances must dispose of them separately from unsorted municipal waste. Waste electrical and electronic equipment must therefore not be disposed of as unsorted municipal waste and in particular does not belong in household waste. Instead, these old appliances must be collected separately and disposed of via local collection and return systems, for example.

Owners of waste appliances must also separate waste batteries and accumulators that are not enclosed by the waste appliance, as well as lamps that can be removed from the waste appliance without destroying them, before handing them in at a collection point. The latter does not apply if the waste appliances are separated from other waste appliances in accordance with Section 14 (4) sentence 4 or (5) sentences 2 and 3 ElektroG as part of the opting-in process by the public waste management authorities for the purpose of preparing them for reuse.

The symbol in accordance with Annex 3 of the ElektroG enables owners to recognize old appliances that must be collected separately from unsorted municipal waste at the end of their service life. The symbol for the separate collection of electrical and electronic equipment represents a crossed-out wheeled garbage can and is designed as follows:

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2. information on the possibility for end users to return old appliances:

End users as owners of old appliances have the following return options:

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

When concluding a purchase contract with us for a new electrical or electronic appliance, you have the option of returning an old appliance of the same type, which essentially fulfills the same functions as the new appliance, free of charge.

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

If the new appliance is sold exclusively by means of distance communication(Section 312c (2) BGB), the following applies restrictively:

  • The free collection of an old appliance of the same type and function will only take place if it is a category 1 (heat exchangers), 2 (screens, monitors, appliances with screens with a surface area of more than 100 square centimeters) and/or 4 (large appliances where at least one of the external dimensions is more than 50 centimeters) appliance.
  • If the old appliance is a category 3, 5 and/or 6 appliance instead, it will not be collected free of charge and the following letter b) will apply to the free return instead

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

b) Return when purchasing a new appliance and returning it elsewhere/returning small appliances

If a purchase contract is concluded with us for a new electrical appliance that is not delivered to a private household and if a new appliance of categories 3, 5 and/or 6 is sold exclusively using means of distance communication(Section 312c (2) BGB) with delivery to a private household, it is possible to return an old appliance of the same type that essentially fulfills the same functions as the new appliance free of charge.

The same option is also available for old appliances that are not larger than 25 centimeters in any external dimension, regardless of the purchase of a new electrical or electronic appliance. In this case, the end user's return option is limited to 3 old appliances per appliance type.

In the case of sales exclusively using means of distance communication(Section 312c (2) BGB), the return is made under the above-mentioned conditions

  • of old appliances in categories 3, 5 and/or 6
  • of old appliances that are not larger than 25 centimeters in any external dimension,

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

Otherwise, the return shall take place at the place of delivery or in the immediate vicinity thereof.

We have created the following return options to fulfill our obligations:

It is essential that you provide information here about the return options you have created for old electrical appliances.

(Please note: IT-Recht Kanzlei cannot provide you with a "sample text" regarding the information on the options you have created for returning waste electrical and electronic equipment, as there are various take-back systems and these are structured differently in each case. For example, you must inform the end user where they can find a nearby collection point. As a rule, this will be solved by linking to the website of the provider of your take-back system with a corresponding search function. However, a corresponding information text on the details of your take-back scheme should be made available to you by the provider of your take-back scheme. Important: Please insert the information text from your provider on the respective take-back system and the return options for old appliances created by it in the following sample under point 2. In this way, you can fulfill your online information obligations under the ElektroG).

c) Other return options

Owners of old appliances from private households can also hand them in at the collection points of the public waste disposal authorities or at the take-back points set up by manufacturers or distributors in accordance with the ElektroG.

3. note on data protection

Some of the old appliances to be disposed of contain sensitive personal data (such as on a PC or smartphone) that must not fall into the hands of third parties.

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