EU proposes new recycling guidelines for electronics

Archiv – In the four years since the European Union put forth environmentally constructive guidelines to reduce the straight-to-landfill disposal of electrical and electronic waste, only one-third of such waste has tended to be collected and recycled, as was otherwise the aim of the EU’s legislation from 2004.European Union / In the four years since the European Union put forth environmentally constructive guidelines to reduce the straight-to-landfill disposal of electrical and electronic waste, only one-third of such waste has tended to be collected and recycled, as was otherwise the aim of the EU’s legislation from 2004.
On December 3 2008, the European Commission, thus, proposed revised laws on recycling and the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, the commission wrote in a press statement from the same day. ’The directives on the collection and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment and on the restriction of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment ‘€’ the so-called WEEE and RoHS directives ‘€’ have been in force since 2004, but there is room for further improvement and simplification,’ the statement read.
Proposed were directives to set ’higher but more flexible’ goals for the collection and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment, all while introducing a ’greater coherence’ with EU legislation as a whole. Also addressed was the need to cut ’unnecessary administrative burden’.
The problem with throwing away ‘€’ as opposed to recycling ‘€’ unwanted, old or broken electrical and electronic items is that they could possibly end up at ’sub-standard treatment sites in or outside’ the EU, which not only cuts off any use of secondary raw materials, but also poses risks to health and environment. Ongoing illegal trade to non-EU countries was also brought up as an issue.
Because ’legislation on electrical and electronic equipment has proved difficult to implement and enforce by market actors and public authorities’, the commission has decided to implement revised directives that include new collection and recycling targets and greater coherence.
’The objective of the proposed directives is to develop a better regulatory environment, one that is simple, understandable, effective and enforceable,’ the statement read. This would also work to control the illegal trade of electrical and electronic goods. Savings under the new proposals are estimated at 66 million euro.
According to the press statement, the proposed revised RoHS directive would cover medical devices and monitoring and control instruments, with the proposed revised WEEE directive setting a new binding target for the collection of electrical and electronic equipment. The current target ‘€’ four kg a person a year ‘€’ of collected electrical and electronic equipment in EU member states ’does not properly reflect the situation’, so the target is being changed to reflect each country’s current status of consumption, with the EC proposing the mandatory collection targets to equal to 65 per cent of the average weight of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market over the two preceding years in each member state.
Targets for recycling and recovery of such equipment will increase by five per cent.