Parliament to battle EU states over e-scrap

Europe – The Environment Committee of the European Parliament has retained its first-reading position over the revision of the Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) which it agreed earlier this year. Experts say that Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are now potentially on a collision course with EU member states over this issue.

The Environment Committee has rejected derogations for certain countries. MEPs also want all electronic products to be covered by the law immediately, while EU states say the law should apply to a list of specific products until 2018.

However, the major confrontations are likely to be over the calculation method and start date for the proposed collection target. The EU executive has suggested a collection target of 65% of e-scrap placed on the market in the previous three years whereas MEPs want to change this to 85% of e-scrap generated each year. EU member states support the European Commission’s approach but want to delay its 65% target until 2020 and introduce an interim target of 45% for 2016.