Further financial burdens for producers of electrical and electronic equipment

Last November, the European Commission has proposed revised laws on recycling and use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) aims to reduce the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment. It increases re-use and recycling and reduces the amount of WEEE going to landfill. It makes producers responsible for financing the collection, treatment, and recovery of waste electrical equipment, and obliges distributors to allow consumers to return their waste equipment free of charge.

This Directive has an impact on producers, distributors and recyclers of electrical and electronic equipment. It is supplemented by the Directive on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS) which is intend to reduce the environmental impact of electrical and electronic equipment when it reaches the end of its life.

Both directives entered into force in 2003 and Member States were required to transpose them by August 2004. The UK Regulations implementing the WEEE Directive enter into force on 2 January 2007.

The Commission has reached the conclusion that both directives are too complicated for operators in the market and for public authorities to implement them. In fact, according to the Commission the implementation of the WEEE has indicated “technical, legal and administrative problems that result in unintentionally costly efforts from market actors and administrations, continuing environmental harm, low levels of innovation in waste collection and treatment, a lack of level playing field or even distortion of competition and unnecessary administrative burden.”

The Commission has stressed that around 65% of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) placed on the market is separately collected however less than half of this is treated and reported according to the requirements of the Directive whereas the rest goes to landfill or ship abroad.

Hence, the European Commission has proposed to revise the two directives.

According to the Commission having different national policies on the management of WEEE impedes the effectiveness of recycling policies thus criteria must be laid down at Community level. The WEEE directive establishes the producer responsibility in order to encourage the design and production of electrical and electronic equipment which takes into account and facilitate their repair, re-use and recycling.

The directive requires Member States to adopt measures to minimise the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste. The Commission has stressed that in order to Member States to create efficient collection schemes, they would be required to achieve a high level of collection of WEEE. The draft directive puts forward new binding collection targets of electrical and electronic equipment.

According to the Commission the existing collection target of 4 kg per person per year does not accurately reflect the situation in individual Member States. Hence, the Commission has proposed to set mandatory collection targets equal to 65% of the average weight of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market over the two previous years in each Member State. The proposed collection rate should be achieved annually, starting in 2016.

According to Ian Pearson this represents a considerable change as Member States are presently required to collect a minimum of 4kgs, of separately collected WEEE from private households. The UK might have difficulties in achieving the separate collection targets proposed for WEEE.

The Commission’s proposal includes in the recycling and recovery targets of WEES the re-use of whole appliances and weight-base targets to be increased by 5% by 2011. The Commission has stressed that priority should be given to the re-use of WEEE and its components but if this is not possible all WEEE collected separately should be sent for recovery.

Under the Directive private households should be able to return WEEE free of charge and producers should finance the collection from collection facilities, as well as the treatment, recovery and disposal of WEEE.

According to the Commission, producers should be encouraged by Member States to take full ownership of the WEEE collection particularly by financing the collection of WEEE throughout the whole waste chain, including from private households, so that producer financing within the EU is harmonised and to “shift payment for the collection of this waste from general tax payers to the consumers of EEEs in line with the polluter pays principle.”

According to Euractiv, EICTA, the voice of EU information and communications technology and consumer electronics industries, is concerned that under the draft proposal producers would have to pay for household collection. According to EICTA this would create disproportionate financial burden on producers of electrical and electronic equipment. EICTA believes that the Commission amending proposal would "massively increase the costs of compliance with no environmental benefit.”

The Commission has also proposed the harmonisation of the registration and reporting obligations for producers between the national producer registers as well as making the national registers interoperable.

The draft directive also provides for inspection requirements as well as monitoring requirements for shipments of WEEE.

According to Ian Pearson the annual costs of the proposals would be around £37 million, while the consequent benefits would be about £11 million.

The Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances (RoHS) in electrical and electronic equipment would be extended to cover medical devices. The Commission also wants to reduce the amount of dangerous waste by increasing the number of chemicals banned from use in electronic items. A list of "priority substances" which pose environmental concerns when used in electrical and electronic equipment will be evaluated in line with REACH.

According to the Government's Impact Assessment the inclusion of medical devices could entail annual costs for the UK between £45 and 92 million. Moreover, it stresses that whilst there are benefits, “it is not clear that the proposal can be justified based on the current estimates of the size of the potential benefits and costs involved." Nevertheless, the European Scrutiny Committee has pointed out that Ian Pearson has said that “there is a need for the proposal to be cleared from scrutiny as soon as possible” as it is a priority for the EU Swedish Presidency.