1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...

Appendix J
recycling charges for several items are: washing machines, DM 20 (U.S. $13); refrigerators, DM
42- 62 (U.S. $26 to $33); and televisions, DM 40-60 (U.S. $25 to $38).
Pilot projects recently started in the Netherlands and France to further examine the model of
shared responsibility. These projects will further assess the current infrastructure, needed
changes in collection and processing systems, and the economics of recycling. In France, in
particular, industry is eager to prove their hypothesis that electronics recycling “…can find its
own economic equilibrium, and thus that it is not necessary to envisage further financial
additions [to the recycling system]…” if responsibility for product design, collection, processing,
and education is shared among manufacturers, retail, local authorities, consumers, and the federal
government. In addition to sharing responsibility, each of these actors is responsible for seeking
improvements in efficiency (e.g., processing and technology) within their domain over time.
French industry further proposes to establish a “common agreement” among the actors in this
“collective co-responsibility” scheme to formalize and detail the role, rights, and duties of each
of the partners, and its relationship to upstream and downstream partners.
What Can the U.S. Learn from Europe?
Table 1 summarizes the features of the European models discussed above. In two models,
Austria and Switzerland, industry established a collection and recycling infrastructure that
operates independently of municipal collection systems. In Austria, local authorities can serve as
an official collection point for the privately-operated system (i.e., collecting equipment with
prepaid stickers), if they choose.
In contrast, France, Germany, and the Dutch consumer electronics industries (including large
household appliances) have proposed collection programs that build on the current recycling
infrastructure, namely, municipal-based collection with some involvement of retail
establishments. Common to most of these models is the certification, or licensing, of recycling
firms that meet minimum performance specifications.
Country Manufacturer Role Collection Point Equipment Collected Who Pays and
When
Austria
Establish and admin- Retail establish- Refrigerators, Customer; down
(Effective 1993) ister collection sysments; some local freezers, air
payment at time of
tem through authorities
conditioners; pro- purchase plus dis-
Umweltforum participate
posed extension of posal charge at end
Haushalt
recycling requirement
to all electronic products
of life
France
Advisory role in the Local authorities Residential equip- Consumer; disposal
(Proposed; pilot development of a
ment, including major fee at end of
projects municipal-based pro-
appliances, televi- product life,
underway in Fall gram; product desions,
office equip- although French
1995; full sign; information on
ment, computers, and industry believes
implementation recycling to con-
consumer electronics fees will be
expected 1997) sumers and recyclers
unnecessary
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