Enforcement key as Ireland reveals draft WEEE regulations

The threat came as part of a raft of draft measures unveiled by the Irish government this week, implementing the requirements of Europe's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.

” Enforcement of the regulations implementing the requirement of the WEEE Directive will be a priority of mine. “
– Dick Roche, Irish environment minister
The Directive makes producers of electronics financially responsible for the collection and treatment of equipment that is separately collected by householders and business users. Producers must meet collection targets and, for the equipment collected separate from the rest of the waste stream, recycling and recovery targets.

Irish environment minister Dick Roche has said enforcement of the producer responsibility obligations will be a personal priority of his.

Timetable
The Republic of Ireland intends for the Directive's producer responsibility requirements to begin by August this year, despite other EU Member States including Britain pushing back the start date into 2006 because they are not ready.

But, Ireland will take advantage of the opportunity open to it to push back by two years the deadline for the Directive's first collection and recycling targets to be met, to 2008. Ireland has been permitted this delay by Europe because of the “underdeveloped” nature of the country's recycling infrastructure.

The draft regulations have been drawn up by the government, working with a stakeholder advisory group, since February 2003. The regulations are now subject to a full public consultation until May 16, 2005.

Commenting on the Republic's timetable for bringing in the requirements of the Directive, Mr Roche, said: “Having regard to the relatively underdeveloped stage of WEEE recycling in Ireland I have decided to avail of the two-year derogation on the collection and recycling targets allowed under the Directive. This will allow the new systems to develop in an ordered manner and will facilitate reaching targets within a realistic timeframe.”

Producers
The Irish WEEE regulations centre around a “Registration Body” that will be set up to administer the country's producer responsibility system.

Similar to the “Clearing House” proposal for WEEE regulations in the UK, the Registration Body will be responsible for registering producers and attributing financial responsibility for collection and treatment by producers' market share.

Producers that do not register will not be permitted to place electrical products on the Irish market. And, if producers fail to achieve national recycling targets in any year, they may have their registration denied by the Registration Body, the draft regulations state.

Producers will need to register for responsibility from July this year, and may carry out their obligations as part of a collective compliance scheme. It is expected that two main compliance schemes will operate in Ireland – WEEE Ireland and the European Recycling Platform. Amendments to Ireland's waste management regulations are being made alongside the WEEE regulations to bring in strict penalties for non-compliance on producer obligations.

Mr Roche said: “Enforcement of the regulations implementing the requirement of the WEEE Directive will be a priority of mine. Proceedings for non-compliance will be brought under the Waste Management Acts which provides for penalties of up to €15m (10m) or 10 years' imprisonment or both.”

Household WEEE
The Directive's 4kg per capita collection requirement for household WEEE will require about 16,000 tonnes of waste electronics to be collected for recycling each year in Ireland.

Collection points will be set up to allow householders to deposit waste electrical items free of charge, and local authority civic amenity sites will also be used to collect WEEE.

Retailers will be responsible for offering like-for-like take back services for householders when selling new items. But, they will be given the option of using council CA sites for collection, and “under certain conditions” will be permitted to use CA sites free of charge.

Business WEEE
Producers are to provide take back services for business users of WEEE, but if business users are not replacing their old equipment with new equipment, they take the responsibility for it to be delivered to an appropriate recovery facility – and must ensure recycling targets are met for that equipment. Producers must make clear these responsibilities to business users when selling items.

Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency will take the lead role in enforcing the WEEE regulations, monitoring producer responsibility obligations as well as collection and treatment facilities.

The Agency will also have sole responsibility for enforcing the RoHS regulations – which clamp down on the use of hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and cadmium in the manufacture of electronic equipment.