International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

purchased), though some offer it voluntarily. 430 Thus the municipality bares a
relatively large overall responsibility for WEEE compared to the majority of other MS.
The EAR foundation centrally co-ordinates WEEE in Germany, assigning ‘pick-ups’ of
WEEE stored at municipal collection sites to producers that are based on an algorithm
method. EAR also allows producers to deduct any individually-collected WEEE from
their allocated share of WEEE that must be collected from the municipal collection
sites. The producers must finance the containers, collection, treatment and recycling
of household WEEE. Germany has opted for full competition among producers
regarding WEEE; consortia of EEE producers are allowed, but the competition
authority has made it clear that it would oppose any consortia of producers whose
market share of any EEE type exceeds 25 % (except for lamps). 431
A financial guarantee is required from all producers. ElektroG provides producers the
choice to finance WEEE collection either from their own products or via a calculated
obligation that is based on the producer’s market share (as per historical WEEE
financial responsibility allocation). The majority of producers choose to finance their
new WEEE obligations based on their current market share of the total EEE quantity
per equipment type, and provide a financial guarantee by participating in an
appropriate funding system, such as recycling insurance or provision of a blocked
bank account. This guarantee is then triggered only once the last remaining producer
exits the market in a particular product group, with the consequent low risk equalling
low premiums. Premiums in this system do not reflect the degree of difficulty of
subsequent recovery of the WEEE at the end of its life, being calculated only
according to the amount of WEEE collected.
20.2.1.3 Japan
In April 2001, the Electrical Household Appliance Recycling Law (EHARL) took effect in
Japan, with responsibility for refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and
televisions shifted from local governments to producers. In Japan, retailers are now
also obligated to take-back products at the end of their life and to transport them to
producer stock-points. Contrary to the EU, consumers in Japan are notified of any
recycling fees when they purchase EEE products, but are not required to pay the
recycling fee until the point of disposal (typically when returning the WEEE to
retailers). 432 This recycling fee only covers the cost of collection and pre-treatment,
with any remaining cost met by the producer. The introduction of recycling fees in
Japan has led to an increase in illegal dumping of WEEE, but also to a substantial
increase in the second-hand market for EEE. As a consequence of the introduction of
430 LetsRecycle (2005) Germany implements the WEEE Directive, [Accessed 9 th October 2008],
available at http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/archive/news.jsp?story=4222
431 R. Veit (2005) How do WEEE get it right?, EMSNow, available at
http://www.emsnow.com/npps/story.cfm?id=15184
432 H. Aizawa, H. Yoshida and S-I. Sakai (2008) Current results and future perspectives for Japanese
recycling of home electrical appliances, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 52, 1399-1410.
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International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes