In voting at the first reading of the WEEE Directive members of the European Parliament (MEPs) demanded almost 100 amendments. The suggested changes include an increased recovery target of 6 kg per head of population, compared with the Commission's proposal of 4 kg.
Although timings will depend on how long it takes to clinch final agreement, the Parliament is insisting that national governments should have just 30 months to set up their product recovery systems, from the date the Directive is finally adopted. Brussels has proposed a 5-year transition.
However, the health and safety of those involved in recovery and recycling also emerged as a major issue – given that one of the main points of the exercise is to identify and remove toxic materials from waste streams. That aspect was underscored by the Parliament's first reading approval of a flanking Commission proposal: a draft Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances [RoHS] in Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
Health risks
One amendment to the WEEE Directive points out that “workers employed in waste collection and processing are exposed to a particularly wide variety of health risks”. Consequently, managers of collection, recovery and recycling facilities should have health and safety qualifications. And, states should spell out in their national legislation the conditions under which product take-back could be refused on health and safety grounds. Certification of environmental management systems at
these sites should be a further requirement, say the MEPs.
Other amendments emphasise the need for separate collection of WEEE and creation of networks capable of recovering equipment suitable for re-use.
On recovery levels, the Parliament wants all WEEE collected separately to be sent for recovery “with the exception of appliances to be completely re-used”. And it calls for recycling and re-use targets to be legally binding with states left free to set their own, more demanding targets for re-use of whole appliances and/or components.
To prevent WEEE from Europe being dumped in non-EU countries, the Parliament wants the Directive to stipulate that exports of used equipment are “suitable and intended for re-use and not for recycling, recovery, removal or final processing”.
On the financing of collection systems foreseen in the Directive, the Parliament agrees that states should have some leeway in their choice of procedures, but MEPs would prefer to underpin the concept of producer responsibility by making producers individually responsible, rather than relying on collective systems. But as for responsibility for historic waste – such as products manufactured by companies no longer trading – Strasbourg accepts the need for a collectively-financed system,
with contributions geared to current market share.
Once the public as been properly informed about the new system, states should prohibit disposal of WEEE in unsorted urban waste, with penalties for offending householders, according to Strasbourg.
Targets
On targets for individual forms of WEEE, Strasbourg seeks moderate increases in recovery levels proposed by the Commission: at least 90 per cent by weight of large household appliances, compared with the 80 per cent suggested by Brussels.
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