|
What is
WEEE?
WEEE is short for
Waste
Electrical & Electronic Equipment.
On January 27, 2003, the
European
Parliament issued a directive “on waste electrical and electronic
equipment.” The intent was to prevent such products from entering
municipal waste collection systems through reuse, recycling and recovery
of substances.
Categories of covered equipment
are listed in Annex IA and include large and small household appliances;
IT and telecommunications equipment; consumer, toys, leisure, and sports
equipment; lighting equipment; electrical and electronics tools,
monitoring and control instruments, and automatic dispensers; and medical
devices. Annex IB provides an exhaustive list of covered products, broken
down by category. Products intended specifically for military purpose are
exempted from this directive.
Effective August 13, 2005, WEEE
must be collected separately from unsorted municipal
waste. To this end, producers of electrical and electronic
equipment are required to set up convenient public
collection points where private households can return their WEEE free of
charge. By December 31, 2006, such collection points must achieve a
collection rate of at least four kilograms of WEEE per inhabitant per
year.
Producers are responsible for the
costs of collection, treatment, recovery, and disposal of their own
products. For products put on the
market before August 13, 2005, producers will pay for WEEE in proportion
to their current market share by type of equipment.
By December 31, 2006, 80% of large
household appliances and automatic dispensers should enter the
separate WEEE
stream, and 75% of this waste by weight should be reused (components) or
recycled (materials and substances). For consumer, IT and telecommunications
equipment, 75% should enter the separate WEEE stream, with 65% of that by
weight being reused or recycled. For small appliances, toys and sports
equipment, lighting, tools, monitoring and control instruments, 70% should
enter the separate WEEE stream, with 50% of that by weight being reused or
recycled. For gas discharge lamps, 80% by weight should be reused or recycled.
Annex II contains a
list of
substances, preparations and components that must be removed from collected
WEEE. Annex III provides guidelines for sites used in the temporary
storage and treatment of WEEE. Annex IV furnishes the symbol for separate
waste collection that must be placed on all electrical and electronic
equipment.
This summary is intended to give you an easy-to-understand overview and does
not constitute legal advice. The actual standard in the original language
should be reviewed and used for all business, legal, and product compliance
purposes.
top
Copyright ©
2006 -- All Rights Reserved
RSJ
Technical Consulting
PO Box 867705, Plano, Texas 75086
|
