Information on electrical and electronic (old) equipment

Information on electrical and electronic (old) equipment

The following information is intended for private households that use electrical and/or electronic devices. Please observe these important instructions in the interest of environmentally friendly disposal of old devices and for your own safety.

1. Information on the disposal of electrical and electronic (waste) equipment and the meaning of the symbol according to Annex 3 to the ElektroG

Owners of old devices must dispose of them separately from unsorted municipal waste. Therefore, waste electrical and electronic equipment may not be disposed of as unsorted municipal waste and, in particular, should not be disposed of with household waste. Instead, these devices must be collected separately and disposed of, for example, via local collection and return systems.

Owners of old devices must also separate old batteries and accumulators that are not enclosed in the old device, as well as lamps that can be removed from the old device without causing damage, before handing them in at a collection point.

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

2. Free return of old equipment by distributors

Distributors (any natural or legal person or partnership that offers or makes available on the market electrical and electronic equipment) with a sales area for electrical and electronic equipment of at least 400 square meters (in the case of distribution using means of distance communication instead with storage and shipping areas for electrical and electronic equipment of at least 400 square meters) as well as distributors of foodstuffs with a total sales area of at least 800 square meters that offer and make available on the market electrical and electronic equipment several times a calendar year or permanently (in the case of distribution using means of distance communication instead with total storage and shipping areas of at least 800 square meters) are obliged to take back old electrical and electronic equipment free of charge from end users as follows:

a) Return/collection when purchasing a new device and delivering it to a private household

When concluding a purchase contract for a new electrical or electronic device, the distributor is obliged to take back an old device of the same type that essentially fulfils the same functions as the new device free of charge.

If the return location is a private household, the return will be carried out via a free collection. For this purpose, an old device of the same type with essentially the same functions can be handed over to the delivering transport company when the new device is delivered.

If the new device is sold exclusively using distance communication means (Section 312c Paragraph 2 of the German Civil Code), the following applies restrictively:

The free collection of an old device of the same type and function will only take place if it is a device in category 1 (heat exchangers), 2 (screens, monitors, devices with screens with a surface area of more than 100 square centimeters) and/or 4 (large devices where at least one of the external dimensions is more than 50 centimeters).
If the waste equipment falls into categories 3, 5 and/or 6, there will be no free collection and the following letter b) will apply instead for free return.

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

b) Return when purchasing a new device and returning it elsewhere/return of small appliances

When concluding a purchase contract for a new electrical appliance that is not delivered to a private household, and when selling a new appliance in categories 3, 5 and/or 6 exclusively using means of distance communication (Section 312c (2) of the German Civil Code) with delivery to a private household, it is possible to return an old appliance of the same type, which essentially fulfils the same functions as the new appliance, to the distributor free of charge.

The same option applies, regardless of the purchase of a new electrical or electronic device, to old devices that are no larger than 25 centimeters in any external dimension. In this case, the return option for end users to the distributor is limited to three old devices per device type.

In the case of distribution exclusively using means of distance communication (§ 312c para. 2 BGB), the return shall be made under the conditions stated above

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

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

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

Distributors must have set up suitable return options for this purpose.

3. Information on the options for returning old devices

Please first inform us about the return options for old electrical appliances that you have created (if necessary voluntarily)!

Owners of old devices can hand them in at the return or collection points established and available by public waste disposal authorities to ensure proper disposal of old devices. If necessary, electrical and electronic devices can also be handed in for reuse. Further information is available from the respective collection or return point.

4. Data protection notice

Old devices to be disposed of sometimes contain sensitive personal data (e.g. on a PC or a smartphone) that must not fall into the hands of third parties.

We expressly point out that end users of old devices are responsible for ensuring that personal data is deleted from the old devices to be disposed of.

5. Note on our WEEE registration number

We are registered with the Stiftung Elektro-Altgeräte Register, Nordostpark 72 in 90411 Nuremberg, as a manufacturer of electrical and/or electronic equipment under the following registration number (WEEE Reg. No. DE):

“ DE61721241 ”