NEWS

European Council Published WEEE Directive Recast, With New Increased Recycling Targets

On 24 July 2012, the EU Council of Ministers published the new WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU in issue L197 of the Official Journal. This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The recast mainly includes three aspects:

1.The setting of two ambitious recycling targets: Four years after the directive recast enters into force, member states will have to achieve an annual collection rate of 45% of the average weight of all EEE placed on their national markets. Three years after that, member states will have to reach a 65% collection rate.
2.The scope of the WEEE recast will now cover, in principle, all types of electrical and electronic equipment, including items such as photovoltaic panels, products containing ozone-depleting substances and fluorescent lamps. These will have to be collected and treated separately six years after the WEEE recast comes into force.
3.The WEEE recast increases manufacturer responsibility with regard to the environmental performance of their products and encourages improvements in the design and production of EEE that enable quick upgrades, re-use, disassembly and recycling. Large electronics retail stores will also have to accommodate the collection of small pieces of e-waste (no external dimension larger than 25cm) from end-consumers, free of charge.

Additional Information :
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:197:0038:0071:EN:PDF