Position paper on selective treatment of WEEE

Archiv – The European Electronics Recyclers Association (EERA) has released a position paper on the selective treatment of electrical and electronic waste with reference to Annex II of the EU’s WEEE Directive.The European Electronics Recyclers Association (EERA) has released a position paper on the selective treatment of electrical and electronic waste with reference to Annex II of the EU’s WEEE Directive.
EERA members have many years’ experience of selective treatment but face difficulties in complying with some of the entries in Annex II. According to EERA, the position paper should be seen as supporting the directive and as a contribution to the enhancement of its aims of protecting human health and the environment.
At present, says EERA, the various EU countries have differing interpretations of some of the requirements of Annex II. The organisation argues that this cannot be the intention of a directive since differing interpretations will inevitably lead to a distorted internal European market. EERA calls for interpretations to be harmonised to create a level playing field.
EERA also claims that the editing of the directive – and especially of Annex II – has resulted in potentially prescriptive rules on how treatment processes should be executed. This could lead to the prohibition of other or new treatment processes that may offer equally good or better results, says the organisation. EERA also believes certain entries impose disproportional recycling costs. According to the association, new process technologies should be defined on the basis of their outcome rather than by prescribing the way they should be executed.
EERA has called on the European Commission and on EU member states to indicate which scientific methodologies can be used for the comparison of new technologies and those prescribed in the directive.
The position paper on Annex II was sent to Timo Mäkelä, Director of the Directorate for Sustainable Development and Integration of the European Commission. A letter to Mr Mäkelä expressed support for the initiative adopted by some member states to form a working group aimed at improving Annex II.