EU Waste Law

To this end, the Member States shall adopt appropriate measures “to minimise the disposal of WEEE in the form of unsorted municipal waste, to ensure the correct treatment of all collected WEEE and to achieve a high level of separate collection of WEEE” (priority being given to temperature exchange equipment containing ozone-depleting substances and fluorinated greenhouse gases, fluorescent lamps containing mercury, photovoltaic panels and small equipment (Article 5(1)).

Households must be able to dispose of such waste in collection facilities with the necessary availability and accessibility (Article 5(2)). They are informed of their obligations to allow the separate collection of WEEE by the following logo which must be affixed on all EEEs (Article 14 and Annex IX):

Source: DIRECTIVE 2012/19/EU

The Member States must furthermore see to it that “all separately collected WEEE undergo proper treatment” (Article 8(1)), including at least the removal of all fluids, “selective treatment” consisting in removing from any such separately collected WEEE components including PCBs, batteries, printed circuit boards, toner cartridges, CFC, cables, etc. (Article 8(2) and Annex VII).

With respect to WEEE from private households, producers provide at least for the financing of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of such waste provided that it has been deposited at designated collection facilities, whether municipal or set up by producers. For any such product that has been placed on the market after 13 August 2005, each producer shall be responsible for financing this operation. A producer may do so individually or by joining a collective scheme, it being understood that, in either case, a producer must provide a guarantee when placing a product on the market showing that the management of such a product at the end of its life will be financed when the time comes (Article 12(3)). The costs of WEEE from products placed on the market on or before 13 August 2005, known as “historic waste”, are borne by one or several management systems to which all producers existing on the market when the respective costs occur contribute proportionally “e.g. in proportion to their respective share of the market by type of equipment” (Article 12(4)), but competitiveness problems may result from such a less than optimal arrangement. Whenever EEEs are transferred for placing on the market outside the territory of the Member State where they were first introduced, the producer is reimbursed for its contributions which become redundant (Article 12(5)).

As to WEEE from users other than private households, the producer is likewise in principle liable for costs, but again, with certain nuances for “historical waste.” For historical waste being replaced by new equivalent products or by new products fulfilling the same function, the financing shall be provided by the producers of those new products although the Member States may provide that users contribute to this financing. In the case of other historical waste, financing is ensured by the users, unless there is an agreement to the contrary between the producer and the user (Article 13 ).

Lastly, in view of the important problems caused by free-riders, the costs of appropriate analyses and inspections of used EEEs suspected to be WEEE “may be charged” to the producers, to third parties acting on their behalf or to other persons arranging for the shipment of used EEEs suspected to be WEEE (Article 23(3) ).