What is WEEE?

WEEE is short for Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment.

Directive 2002/96/EC - WEEE

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.

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