As reported by letsrecycle.com last Wednesday (January 11) an agreement had been reached in December between members of the European Parliament, European Commission and the European Council that MEPs would vote in favour of a staged target for the collection of WEEE (see letsrecycle.com story).
MEPs today agreed to update the WEEE Directive at a plenary session in Strasbourg.
The updated directive now requires formal approval from the Council of Ministers, and will then enter the Official Journal of the European Communities, at which point it will become law. EU member states will have 18 months to update their national legislation to comply with the changes.
Targets
The new targets that have been agreed will require member states to increase their WEEE collection rates above the current target of 4kg per person. As of 2016, 45 tonnes of WEEE will need to be collected for every 100 tonnes put onto the market in the three preceding years. These targets will then rise further in 2019 to a rate of 65 tonnes from every 100 put onto the market.
Rapporteur Karl-Heinz Florenz said: After difficult negotiations I am very satisfied that we have agreed ambitious but achievable collection rates with Council. Europe will now recover more raw materials, which is excellent news both for the economy and the environment.
Consumer Take-back
The Parliament has also confirmed proposals for a retailer take-back scheme, whereby consumers can take small WEEE items to an electrical retailer free of charge, without having to purchase a new product. This scheme will apply to retailers of electrical goods with a shop space of 400 sq metres or larger.
MEPs also agreed on tougher restrictions on the illegal expert of WEEE, to prevent waste electricals from being processed in countries where conditions are hazardous to workers and the environment. It will now be the responsibility of exporters to prove that goods are being shipped abroad for repair or reuse.
Speaking after the vote,European commissioner for the environment Janez Potonik, said: “Today’s decision by the European Parliament is good news for health of our citizens, Europe’s competitiveness, and the environment. In these challenging times of economic change and rising prices for raw materials, resource efficiency is where environmental benefits and innovative growth opportunities for European industry come together.
“The waste stream with the greatest relevance in this respect is electrical and electronic waste. Today, the European Parliament has given a great boost to this policy, raising the binding collection levels to 85% by 2019. I hope this will encourage some Member States to be more ambitious, and meet the new targets even sooner than this deadline.”
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