What happens to your e-waste after collection? The full journey
After collection, your WEEE goes through five stages: receipt and weighing, sorting, treatment of data-bearing media, reuse of working components, then material recycling of everything else, right up to the refining of the precious metals contained in circuit boards. This sorting is what sets your price: as at 15/11/2026, a complete computer is bought at €0.50/kg, but a gold-plated circuit board is worth €15.90/kg and a 10th-generation Intel Core i5 processor €20.00 each. Here is what happens, step by step, and what you receive in return.
What happens when your e-waste arrives?
The consignment arrives at RECYNEW's warehouse in Millonfosse (Nord, France), a WEEELABEX-certified facility. It is first matched to your buyback request using its reference, then weighed. Weighing underpins everything that follows: price per kilo, traceability and proof-of-handover documents.
You follow each stage on your request's online tracking page, reached through a secure link sent by email:
- Parcel or consignment received: the equipment has arrived and been weighed.
- Assessment: identification of the equipment and its category.
- Offer: a detailed purchase note, line by line.
- Payment: by bank transfer, once you have agreed.
For large volumes (pallets, lorry loads), collection is arranged with you and can be built into the offer. For a first consignment, a quote is returned within 48 working hours.
How is your e-waste sorted?
The assessment answers one simple question for each part: can it be used again as it is? If so, it goes for reuse and is bought per unit. If not, it is valued by the kilo according to its metal content.
| Sorted stream | Destination | Example price as at 15/11/2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Recent working processors | Reuse, per unit | Core i7 10000 series: €30.00 each |
| Recent RAM modules | Reuse, per unit | DDR4 server 32 GB: €15.00 each |
| Recent hard drives and SSDs, after wiping | Reuse, per unit | 2.5-inch 1 TB SSD: €22.50 each |
| Old or faulty processors | Precious-metal refining | Intel x86 ceramic: €317.50/kg |
| Circuit boards | Precious-metal refining | Gold-plated board: €15.90/kg; old mixed motherboards: €4.50/kg; low-grade board: €0.68/kg |
| Power supplies, drives, faulty hard disks | Material recycling (metals, plastics) | Internal PSU with cable: €0.56/kg; hard drive: €1.10/kg |
Reused components are sold on to repairers, integrators and manufacturers: RECYNEW works with more than 200 buyers in more than 30 countries. How boards are graded is set out on the circuit board buyback prices per kilo page.
What happens to hard drives and data?
This is the stage that worries businesses most, and it takes place before anything is resold. Storage media are securely wiped when they can be reused, or physically destroyed if not. A destroyed drive is not lost value: it is bought by the kilo (€1.10/kg as at 15/11/2026).
If you need proof for your GDPR records or an audit, ask for a data erasure certificate by stating it in your request. You can also remove the drives before collection if your security policy requires it. More detail in our article on data security and computer recycling.
Where do circuit boards and metals go?
Parts that are not reused follow the material recycling route, governed by European regulation.
Depollution first. Annex VII of Directive 2012/19/EU requires that, among other things, batteries and printed circuit boards larger than 10 cm² be removed from all separately collected WEEE. Batteries therefore go to their own recycling stream, and boards are separated out.
Refining next. Boards and processors are grouped by category and sent to approved outlets, including specialist smelters that recover gold, silver, palladium and copper. That is why a rich board (gold-plated connectors and tracks) is worth more than twenty times a low-grade board by the kilo: €15.90/kg against €0.68/kg as at 15/11/2026.
The rest as raw material. Chassis, power supplies and cables are separated into ferrous metals, aluminium, copper and plastics, which go back into production.
To understand the trade-off between smelting and reuse, read our article smelter or reuse: how to sell circuit boards.
What documents do you receive, and when are you paid?
| Document | What it proves | When |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed purchase note | Weight, categories and price of each line; once approved online, it constitutes agreement | After weighing and assessment |
| Invoice (optional) | For businesses that prefer to invoice RECYNEW for the agreed amount | When accepting the offer |
| Proof of handover (waste tracking note, BSD) | Delivery of the WEEE to a treatment facility, for your obligations as holder | On request, to be stated in your request |
| Data erasure certificate | Secure treatment of your storage media | On request |
Payment is prepared by bank transfer as soon as you accept the offer online. Nothing to print, and nothing is committed before you agree: if the offer does not suit you, you simply do not approve it.
How much of your e-waste is actually recycled?
Since 15 August 2018, Directive 2012/19/EU (Annex V) has set minimum targets for small IT and telecommunications equipment (category 6): 75% recovered and 55% prepared for reuse or recycled. For large equipment (category 4), the thresholds are 85% and 80%.
In France, according to ADEME (report "Electrical and electronic equipment, 2024 data"), more than 1.2 million tonnes of WEEE were collected in 2024, and 45,017 tonnes were given a second life through reuse. Worldwide, the United Nations' Global E-waste Monitor 2024 estimates that 62 million tonnes of e-waste were generated in 2022, of which only 22.3% was formally collected and recycled.
In other words, the point is not just to have your e-waste collected, but to entrust it to a facility that traces every consignment and puts reuse first. To arrange a collection or a consignment: create a buyback request.
In short
- Your e-waste is received, weighed and matched to your request; you follow each stage online.
- Sorting separates reuse (working parts bought per unit) from material recycling (by the kilo).
- Drives are wiped or destroyed; a data erasure certificate is available on request.
- Boards go for refining: as at 15/11/2026, €15.90/kg for a gold-plated board against €0.68/kg for a low-grade board.
- Detailed purchase note, proof of handover and bank transfer after your agreement.