1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...

Appendix J
The ordinance requires Umweltforum Haushalt to establish a fund to pay for recycling costs
when the product is disposed of in 10 to 20 years. The industry group is allowed to accrue the
interest earned on the money during this lag period. When equipment is returned into the system,
any accrued interest is credited towards recycling costs. This will act to increase the monetary
value of the initial down payment, while lowing the end-of-life disposal charge.
Although the Umweltforum Haushalt system only “officially” covers products sold since enactment
of the ordinance, the existence of the industry-established infrastructure facilitates the collection
and recycling of pre-ordinance equipment. For pre-ordinance equipment, consumers in
Austria can also opt to use municipal collection centers in lieu of the private system. By law
local authorities must handle waste disposal, including the disposition of refrigerators, freezers,
and air conditioners. Before 1993 the handling of these bulky items was absorbed in the
municipal tax base. The ordinance for refrigerators and freezers gave municipalities the authority
to charge consumers a discrete market-based recycling fee, payable at the point of collection,
providing municipalities with an incentive to compete for refrigerators and freezers with the
private system.
The current recycling infrastructure reflects an important change, resulting from two years of
experience with appliance recycling. Amendments to the recycling ordinance in March 1995
changed the fee structure from an entirely prepaid system to the current down payment plus endof-life
fee. Under the previous system, consumers were required to pay the entire cost of
disposal at the time of product purchase. As a result, Austria’s retailers lost business to Germany
and Italy, particularly in border regions. (Under the old fee structure, consumers could also use
the fully prepaid coupon to recycle an old refrigerator. After moving to the partial payment
scheme, coupons can only be used for recycling the new product at the end of its life in 10 to 20
years.)
According to the Umweltforum Haushalt and the Austrian Ministry, there are no reliable figures
on the total recovery and recycling rates for appliances, since several systems are currently
operating (i.e., private and public collection systems; equipment with and without prepayment
stickers). The Umweltforum only collects data on the equipment recycled with prepaid coupons,
which in 1994 accounted for half of the refrigerators recycled in Austria (75,000 of 150,000).
These figures are misleading—they do not capture the pre-ordinance equipment recycled in the
private system without coupons (i.e., consumer paid entire recycling fee at point of disposal).
For the next several years, the Umweltforum also expects to see its figures decrease as fewer
units are returned with coupons, reflecting the amendment to the ordinance. These figures will
turn around when equipment sold since 1993 comes to the end of its life.
Switzerland: Private Prepaid Recycling System
The Swiss Economic Association of Information, Communication, and Organization Technology
(SWICO) established a convention for the management of end-of-life equipment in April of
1994. Any member of SWICO importing or producing office equipment or computers can
become a party to the convention. Signatories of the convention voluntarily commit to life cycle
environmental responsibility, including: 1) avoidance of wastes, 2) reduction of harmful
substances during manufacturing processes, 3) waste utilization through reuse or value material
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