WEEE stands for "Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment". It is a directive introduced by the European Union that requires the separate collection and proper treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment. The directive lists categories of equipment that will become waste the day their owner decides to get rid of them, and producers are required to take into account the scope of EEE concerned by the WEEE directive when placing EEE on the market. WEEE covers everything that requires an electric current, a battery, or solar energy to operate, and they are categorized into 10 different groups regarding their industrial sectors or their components. The amount of WEEE generated every year in the EU is increasing rapidly, and the WEEE directive helps European countries fight illegal waste exports more effectively by making it harder for exporters to disguise illegal shipments of WEEE.