Electrical and electronic waste
Towards effective collection and treatment
The Environment Committee of the European Parliament voted today on the update to the directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (1). Michail Tremopoulos, Member of the Greens/EFA from Greece, stated the following:
"I am happy the committee took a clear position in favour of ambitious, effective and meaningful collection targets and voted for a target of 85% of the electronic waste that actually arises, rather than a target based on what might theoretically become waste. This allows having the same target for all Member States while accounting for the different level of consumption in different Member States. And since everything that is separately collected needs to undergo adequate treatment, the days of uncontrolled dumping, burning or even illegal exports of this often hazardous waste should soon be over.
"Small appliances easily end up in the general waste stream and thus escape adequate treatment, let alone reuse or recycling. I am therefore very happy that the committee wants to involve retailers more into the collection schemes by allowing citizens to hand back very small appliances to any retailer free of charge. Similarly, I fully support the call for separate collections targets for small equipment and lamps, including mercury containing lamps and incandescent light bulbs. This is important to ensure that these - and the hazardous substances they contain - are kept out of the general waste stream.
"Finally, I am very glad that we at last tackle the completely unacceptable situation of illegal exports of waste electronics to developing countries. In the future, operators will no longer be able to export waste electrical and electronic equipment to third countries by pretending that it is for "reuse" - when such equipment is neither fit nor intended for reuse. It is long overdue that we stop making African countries the dumping ground of our hazardous wastes."
Notes to editors:(1) first reading on the recast of the directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment
