EN 50574:2012

This European Standard defines requirements for the end of life handling, transportation, storage, sorting and treatment of WEEE household appliances containing volatile fluorocarbons, volatile hydrocarbons, or both. Furthermore, this standard only applies to WEEE household appliances that use heat-transfer media other than water e.g. refrigerators, freezers, heat pump tumble dryers, de-humidifiers and portable air conditioners. Discarded appliances covered by this standard will have been deposited at a collection facility as domestic WEEE. The European Standard describes requirements for the removal of volatile fluorocarbons and volatile hydrocarbons. These substances can be found as refrigerant in the refrigerating system (partly dissolved in the oil) and as blowing agent in the insulation foam of discarded household appliances. NOTE This standard has been prepared to fulfil the requirements of Directive 2002/96/EC but does not preclude the procedures described herein from being used to treat appliances that are not commonly found in private households. It defines requirements pertaining to producers, WEEE compliance schemes (acting on behalf of producers) and waste treatment facilities so as to ensure the provisions of applicable national laws resulting from European legislation are fulfilled. These requirements are intended to define procedures, parameters based on the best available technologies at the time of the publication; however, provisions laid down by national regulatory bodies will continue to additionally apply. This standard only describes the results to be achieved, it does not specify how they are to be achieved nor does it prescribe the use of any specific technology. This European Standard does not generally cover collection facilities, nor does it cover how appliances arrive at these facilities. However, this standard does address the sorting of heat-pump tumble dryers from other types of tumble dryer, a task that could be performed at a collection facility. This European Standard defines requirements relating to handling, transportation, sorting and treatment of WEEE covered by the scope of this standard. This standard does not include any activity prior to delivery to a logistic facility.