Legal recommendation on health and safety regulations regarding WEEE recycling

In the context of WEEE recycling, health and safety issue should be approached from three aspects: General occupational health and safety regulations, which is applicable in all industrial sites Dismantling and treatment of WEEE Regulations on substances in EEE   WEEE - waste electrical and electronic equipment: electrical or electronic…

Law enforcement: case of applied penalties in Italy, France and Austria

EU member states have transposed EU law and introduced penalties for producers and importers of EEE, who do not fulfil their legal obligations. Selection of applicable sanctions are presented below: Penalties applicable in Italian law: Producers who do not register to the (W)EEE registry are subject to an administrative sanctions…

WEEE EPR law implementation: case in Italy

In Italy, the EU Directive 2012/19/UE regarding electric and electronic equipment waste (WEEE) was adopted on 14th March 2014 with Legal Decree n.49 (further Legal Decree n.49). This establish roles and responsibilities for all key stakeholders in the WEEE recycling. The law has two main objectives: Prevent or reduce the negative…

WEEE recycling system financing: case in EU

The reimbursed compliance scheme According to the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) principle, producers finance the e-waste supply chain, but this is not always the case, since the EPR mechanism is often implemented via a series of reimbursement schemes and co-contributions from other stakeholders, which do reduce the overall costs borne…

Recommendation on voluntary WEEE recycling program financing solution

Since the development of national WEEE recycling legal frame will take as minimum 5-10 years, voluntary WEEE recycling projects with government oversight should be encouraged and introduced. A motivational mechanism for producers and importers of EEE to engage into such projects should be developed. Many projects with engagement of importers…

Health and safety: the case of lamps’ treatment in Austria

Austria follows EU legislation with regards to WEEE, for instance, clear detailed instructions are given for the treatment of lamps (WEEE Management Ordinance Austria): “Article 12. (1) Whole straight fluorescent lamps, specially shaped fluorescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps and high-pressure discharge lamps shall be treated by applying dismantling techniques (e.g.…

Data collection: IT solution case in Italy

Recommendation how to upgrade informal sector activities regarding EEE re-use and WEEE recycling

The informal sector is one of the most important stakeholders in the EEE reuse and WEEE recycling system in developing countries. Waste pickers and traders are active both in visiting households to buy EEE for further refurbishment or WEEE for selling to recyclers; also waste sorting takes place in landfills.…

Recommendation on the WEEE legislation lobbying program development

In the context of WEEE recycling, lobbying is the act of attempting to influence business and government leaders with legal means to initiate suitable policy or legislation development (or revision) process on a national level. The key activity of lobbying is providing accurate, relevant and complete information to stakeholders to…

Legal recommendation on law enforcement of WEEE recycling system

The missing enforcement of the legislation is a crucial issue, which in many contexts impede the proper development of an e-waste system. The following paragraphs focus on the way inspections are perpetrated in some European member states and what tools are to put in place to ensure obligors do comply…