The timetable for a recast of the European WEEE Directive which could potentially see the UK having to dramatically increase its recycling rate for waste electronics looks almost certain to slip into 2011.
Under the European Union's co-decision process, the recast document had been expected to reach the European environment council for the first time last week (October 14), provided it had been voted for by a plenary of the European Parliament.
And, the European Council has now said that it understands the Parliament will not vote on the recast this year, meaning it is “unlikely” to reach the Council in 2010.
A spokeswoman for the council told letsrecycle.com: “The next Environment Council is on 20 December, but WEEE is unlikely to figure on the agenda. This is because the Council must first receive the first-reading position of the European Parliament before it can make its own position at first reading (the co-decision procedure foresees it like this).
“We understand from the Parliament that it's unlikely that their first-reading position on WEEE will be voted this year. Therefore, it's unlikely that the Council takes this issue up again during the Belgian presidency.”
The news means that progress on the Directive has slipped significantly since December 2009, when the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – which is leading for the UK in the European discussions – said agreement could be reached this year (see letsrecycle.com story).
The European Parliament had indicated it expected to vote in a plenary on the Directive in May 2010, then in September and the “indicative date” set for the discussion is now November 22.
Collection targets
Significantly, the slippage prolongs uncertainty over exactly how tough the new percentage-based WEEE collection targets being set by the recast are going to be.
The move from the weight-based target that the UK has easily met since introducing the WEEE Regulations in July 2007 had raised hopes in the sector that a target as high as 85% could be introduced by 2016 (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, detail of the text that was approved by the Parliament's environment committee in June 2010 reveals that, unlike the original Commission's original proposals to set a 65% collection goal as a percentage of electrical equipment placed on the market, the 85% goal would be a percentage of WEEE generated.
Leading industry figures have said this could represent a far easier target than the original 65% proposals. However, given the large amount of waste electronics which is believed to be dealt with outside of the WEEE system at the moment, exactly how exacting it is would depend on how WEEE is defined under the recast Directive (see letsrecycle.com story).
BIS
The Council's statement over discussions continuing into 2011 was today (October 19) confirmed by a BIS spokeswoman, who told letsrecycle.com: “The UK is taking an active part in the negotiations in Europe on the Recast via the Council Working Groups.
“The timetable of the Council and Parliament mean that these negotiations are unlikely to be concluded by the end of the year.”
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