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

kg), and a TV (15 kg), finding the average WEEE cost of these products to be
€5.34. 451 In monopolistic environments, the average product had a €6.33 WEEE
charge attached to it, which was found to be more than double the €2.93 charge in
competitive environments. Nonetheless, monopolistic environments may be the best
way to get new infrastructure in place for the more recent WEEE implementation in
some MS.
According to a report by OECD, 452 there is limited evidence to support the effect of
pricing on the demand for EEE. However, this is difficult to believe. In theory, the
higher product price resulting from WEEE producer responsibility should lead to a
reduction in the quantity demanded, even if only at the margin. The issue, therefore,
is that given the relatively high cost of most EEE compared to the average additional
WEEE cost given above (€5.34), it is likely that price increases are too small to have
any significant influence on demand. In addition, even if the elasticity of demand was
-0.2, a 5 % increase in price gives at most a 1 % reduction in demand, whilst there
remains an overall rising trend in EEE consumption worldwide. Hence, though
difficult to discern, there probably is a pricing effect on the demand for EEE. However,
this effect is simply very small, owing to the relatively small impact on product prices
and the inelastic nature of demand for most EEE items.
20.9 Evasion and Enforcement
The UNU and Greenpeace reports note that there is ‘leakage’ in the current WEEE
system throughout Europe and worldwide, particularly concerning items of value such
as large domestic appliances that contain a lot of metals, and IT and telecoms
equipment such as desktop computers and mobile phones. WEEE may escape the
proper management system via illegal exports or via back-door sales to unlicensed
operators, both less-equipped to manage WEEE in an environmentally-sound manner.
The UNU report gives the following examples:
399
� Shipments of WEEE disguised as goods from Hamburg port (DEUTSCHE
UMWELTHILFE 2007);
� 28 % of businesses found to be exporting WEEE illegally from the Netherlands
(VROM 2007).
As discussed previously in Section 20.5, it is estimated that only 25% of WEEE
arisings within the EU are currently being collected and treated, with no precise data
available on what happens to the remaining 75%. 453 It is considered to be likely that
some portion of this ‘hidden flow’ is being illegally exported to non-EU countries. In
addition, ‘free-riders’ in the system also contribute to the ‘hidden flow, with VROM
451 R. Veit (2005) How do WEEE get it right?, EMSNow, available at
http://www.emsnow.com/npps/story.cfm?id=15184
452 OECD (2006) EPR Policies and Product Design: Economic Theory and Selected Case Studies,
Working Group on Waste Prevention and Recycling, Environment Policy Committee.
453 Greenpeace (2008) Toxic Tech: Not in Our Backyard, Uncovering the Hidden Flows of e-Waste.
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes