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

try to provide greater incentives for producers to design products with reuse/recycling
in mind.
The review by the United Nations University (2007) highlights the following key points
regarding WEEE targets in Europe:
404
� The WEEE directive currently sets a minimum collection target target target of 4 kg per
annum per inhabitant; however, this figure does not discriminate in favour of
those products that have the highest economic or environmental relevance;
for example, the collection of refrigerators containing CFCs is more important
for meeting environmental objectives so the targets should be set to reflect
this importance. The rate of CFC extraction from old appliances and disposal
without emission to air was reported in Recycle.co.uk as only 42 % in Germany
compared to 91 % in Austria, stemming from a current lack of incentive to
treat products in the most environmentally-friendly way if it requires further
processing and added expense; 457
� In addition, for some categories of WEEE it appears that the targets are easily
being being met met by a number of European MS – for instance the current shredding
and separation technologies for white goods typically lead to recycling rates in
excess of those prescribed. It would have been appropriate, prior to the
revision in the target, to ask the question whether the targets are high enough
in those countries for which WEEE policy is now well developed, and where
large (and growing) quantities of WEEE are found in the waste stream;
� The final destination of the recycled/ recovered WEEE is not considered in the
targets, and may thus result in discrimination against more environmentallypreferred
options where they require more processing. For example, the use of
cleaned CRT glass for producing new CRTs has been shown to be more
resource and energy efficient than using the glass as road filling material.
However, WEEE policy regards both destinations as having equal footing in
recycling percentages. Thus companies may favour road filling as the final
destination as this requires less cleaning and separation;
� Weight-based recycling targets may divert attention away from ‘prevention’ as
a key policy outcome, by discouraging the design of future EEE to use less
material and to reduce environmental damage in favour of meeting such
targets.
The recent proposed revision to the EU WEEE Directive includes a change in collection
targets from 4 kg per annum per inhabitant to a 65% collection rate, calculated
according to the average amount of EEE placed on the market in the two preceding
years. This proposed target is more in line with the current Japanese system. In
addition, in order to encourage the re-use of whole appliances, it is proposed that
such re-use be included within the 65% target. The proposed revision also presents
the possibility of setting a separate collection rate for cooling and freezing equipment
457 S. Flanagan (2008) UK recyclers should not follow German WEEE model, Recycle.co.uk: Don’t Bin
it, Recycle it, available at: http://www.recycle.co.uk/news/614000.html
29/09/09