Nearly half of the strategic and critical raw materials contained in small appliances are lost during collection.

Omissions

• The published figure (46% of critical raw materials lost) refers to WEEE/e-waste in the EU overall, not specifically to small appliances; the claim narrows the scope without a source for that narrower category.
• The loss arises from WEEE that is not separately collected or not treated compliantly (incineration, landfill, illegal export, mixed residual waste), i.e. the loss is not only a 'collection' failure but also a treatment/diversion failure.
• The underlying data appear to come from a dedicated critical raw materials outlook study on WEEE; no primary official Eurostat/JRC publication with this exact 46% figure could be located within the search budget, so the figure rests on secondary reporting.
• The claim does not state the reference year of the data (the reported baseline is around 2022 WEEE generation/management).

Sources

• SecondaryScience Media Centre Spain — 'Only 54% of electronic waste is collected correctly in Europe'"The results of the study show that 46% of CRMs are lost because WEEE is not collected properly." The article also refers to categories such as small appliances and telecommunications equipment and cites a 'Critical Raw Materials Outlook for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment'.
• SecondaryWEEE Forum — 'Critical Raw Materials Are A Vital New Currency, Europe's E-Waste Is The Vault'"54% of WEEE compliantly managed in 2022; 46% outside compliant" handling; "~1.0 million tonnes" of critical raw materials embedded in discarded e-products annually in the EU, UK, Switzerland and Iceland.
• SecondaryMunicipal Waste Europe — 'From WEEE to European Self-sufficiency' (PDF)"46% of the WEEE generated in the EU is not collected separately, finding its way towards incinerators, landfills or is leaked" — i.e. roughly half of e-waste escapes proper collection and treatment.