Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

EU Countries
In January 2003, the European Union Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive (Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment) was established to govern the collection and disposal of used electronic and electrical equipment. Per this directive, items labeled as WEEE must be collected separately from other waste to prevent them from ending up in a landfill or being incinerated.
Items that are labeled as WEEE will bear the symbol seen at the right.

Any of Ethicon’s products that are labeled with the WEEE Directive symbol must be kept separate from other contaminated, infectious, biological, and hazardous waste. Please separate, for collection and recycling, all cleaned, non-implanted, non-infected electrical, electronic, and medical equipment.

Please Note: The directive and other emerging WEEE legislation does not require and does not change the management and disposal procedures of EEE products that are implanted and may be infected. Ethicon WEEE products that are contaminated or potentially infected should continue to be handled as medical waste and disposed of per the laws and regulation governing these types of medical waste materials.

Non-EU Countries
In many non-EU countries, recycling requirements for electrical, electronic, and medical device equipment are emerging, are under discussion, in draft, or are not specific for Ethicon-type products (i.e., most of the existing electrical and electronic waste laws and regulations are specific just for computers, consumer products, or other information technology products). Please consult with your individual country's laws, regulations and guidelines for disposal requirements.

All of our products are designed with the healthcare professional in mind. Ultimately, it is the professional who must use and dispose of products responsibly. Ethicon encourage users to take the extra steps to recycle products that they no longer need.