Plans for staged WEEE target increase emerge

The UK could be given longer than previously expected to meet new tougher collection targets for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), under proposals discussed by European environment ministers yesterday (December 20).

Under a recast of the EU WEEE Directive which is currently passing through the European legislative system, the European Commission has proposed that the current weight-based target, which the UK has comfortably met, be replaced with a new goal to collect 65% of all electrical equipment placed onto the market from 2016.

This would require a significant improvement in the UK's WEEE recycling performance, given it collected 36.6% of household WEEE in 2009, and a number of EU member states have expressed concern over the proposals (see letsrecycle.com story).

But, it has now emerged that the Belgian presidency of the EU, which ends this month, has introduced a proposal for a lower 45% target to be set from four years after the recast Directive enters into force, and a 65% target to be set for six years after it is introduced.

Given the delays seen in the progress of the recast through the European legislative process, with several changes in the date for the first European Parliament vote on the document meaning it is now pencilled in to be voted on at a February 2 plenary, it would appear to be unlikely the Directive will be finalised until late 2011 at the earliest.

And, as a result, the target date for the 65% goal, if it is introduced, would slip from the 2016 originally proposed to 2017, or potentially later, given the differences of opinion between the Parliament and Council that will need to be overcome for agreement on the recast to be reached.

These differences are made clear by the fact that the Parliament's proposal for a percentage-based target is for an easier-to-achieve target requiring 85% of all WEEE generated in a year to be collected (see letsrecycle.com story).

They are also alluded to in the progress report considered by the European environment council this week, which notes that, while many member states support the Commission's plans to base the target on EEEE placed on the market, one is “open” to the Parliament's approach.

The report also reveals there are concerns over whether even the Presidency's staged approach would be achievable, stating that: “While a majority of delegations can support this approach, several still consider that a longer time period to achieve the 65% target would be necessary.”

Issues

Among the other areas which the progress report outlines as “key outstanding issues” are:

– The scope of the Directive, with the paper noting that 12 member states support Presidency proposals for it to cover all WEEE under an ‘open' scope and 12 others preferring a ‘closed' scope;

– Differences of opinion over the definition of ‘producer' under the Directive. The Commission originally proposed producers be “encouraged” to pay for all WEEE recycling costs, including collection from households, but these were dropped in a European Parliament report (see letsrecycle.com story);

– Plans for one registration for producers across the EU, which the report said had been “criticised by all the delegations who raised a number of practical difficulties”, in particular in relation to monitoring producer activities and quantities of EEE placed on the market across the EU.

Discussions

Following this week's council meeting, the body issued a statement confirming discussions were ongoing, explaining that: “The Council is still discussing collection modalities, the level of the targets as well as which equipment will be covered by the revised law.”

The recast is now scheduled to be voted on by a full plenary session of the European Parliament on February 2 2011, before formally reaching the environment council for the first time.