Following international agreement on the basic principles of protecting the environment from hazardous substances released by Electrical and Electronic Equipment at the end of its life, the European Parliament introduced Directives calling for all member states to pass legislation to recycle these goods at the end of their useful life. The directive responsible for promoting the safe disposal and/or recycling of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment at the end of its life is generally referred to as the WEEE directive.

Some WEEE may contain significantly higher amounts of hazardous substances than if they were manufactured today. The hazardous substances present in such WEEE items can damage both human health and the environment if left in landfill sites.

Products produced after August 2005 will be marked with a crossed-out wheelie bin symbol:

When these products are no longer needed they should be disposed of separately from household waste.