How can you actually recognize an electrical or electronic device?
Most people in Switzerland know that recycling electrical and electronic equipment is worthwhile. But what is electrical and electronic equipment anyway? How can you recognize them?
Silly question, you may think, but the answer is very simple: electrical and electronic equipment is equipment that runs on electricity. In other words, devices that have a power cord and a plug that you can insert into a socket. Your vacuum cleaner with its super-practical extra-long cord, the fancy desk lamp in your office, the oven you use every weekend to whip up a wonderful homemade Sunday plait: It's clear that these are all electrical or electronic devices.
But what about battery-operated devices, do they belong too?
Even if you take the batteries out? An empty remote control, for example, is it still an electrical device? After all, no more electricity can flow through it... And what about the bouncing toy bunny that your three-year-old daughter is so madly in love with? Is it also an electrical device, even if it is 95% plush?
Hand on heart: Do you know the answer with 100% certainty? So it's high time to take a look at the official definition that is decisive for eReycling in Switzerland: An electrical appliance is a device that uses, generates or measures electrical energy for its operation. Electrical appliances are directly connected to the power grid, equipped with accumulators or batteries, or they generate electrical energy themselves.
Whether it's a washing machine or a wobble machine, the decisive factor for an electrical or electronic device is not the material it is made of, but whether the device contains electronic components that are powered by electrical energy. This makes it clear that even an empty remote control is an electrical or electronic device, because the electrical components that make operation with batteries possible in the first place are permanently installed in the remote control. And yes: The talking plush bunny is also such a device.
The situation is different for an EC bank card, for example. Even if the abbreviation EC, which stands for "electronic cash," suggests otherwise, EC cards are not electrical or electronic devices. They contain a magnetic strip and an NFC chip, special storage media on which data can be stored and transmitted, but no electronic components. The payment machine for the bank card, on the other hand, which is connected to the power grid, is an electrical device.
Photovoltaic modules are also classified as electrical and electronic equipment, although they are neither connected to the power grid nor equipped with batteries. Nor do they need to be, because they generate electrical energy themselves. This applies to the large solar system on the roof of the house as well as to the small solar pocket calculator. For the same reason, a portable generator is also an electrical device. The third and last category of electrical and electronic equipment includes all devices that can measure electrical energy. For example, a portable multimeter or a voltage tester.
As you can see, the spectrum of electrical and electronic devices is very broad - and the criteria that make a device an electrical device vary. But all electrical and electronic equipment has one thing in common: proper recycling pays off and is really good for our environment.