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

21.0 Producer Responsibility, WEEE - Germany
21.1 Outline of Policy
According to the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (Elektro- and
Elektronikgerätegesetz - ElektroG) producers are obliged to take back waste electrical
and electronic equipment (WEEE) and either reuse, recycle or dispose of the collected
items according to ecological standards. 458
The aims of the ElektroG - being identical to the WEEE-Directive and RoHS – are:
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� to prevent and reduce the amount of WEEE;
� to reduce waste volumes through reuse and through provisions for collection,
recovery and recycling of WEEE;
� to reduce the content of hazardous substances in equipment; and
subsequently; and
� to reduce the amount of hazardous substances in the residual waste by
banning the disposal of WEEE via the residual waste stream.
The ElektroG contains different regulations for WEEE from the commercial sector
(B2B) compared to from private households (B2C). These are set out below.
Collection Collection of of WEEE WEEE from from commercial commercial sector (B2B)
According to Art. 10 para 2, ElektroG producers are responsible for the disposal of
WEEE from the purely commercial sector, provided it is electrical and electronic
equipment that is placed on the market after 13 th August 2005. End-users are
responsible for equipment placed on the market before 13 August 2005. Producers
and users may reach an agreement which departs from the aforementioned
provisions. The party responsible for disposal shall either reuse WEEE or its
components, treat or dispose of it in compliance with the provisions of the ElektroG,
and shall bear the costs of disposal.
The definition of B2B equipment depends, in practice, on whether the equipment is
used exclusively by businesses, and is determined by the characteristics of the
equipment (e.g. the type and place of use, special pre-conditions for the use of the
equipment, qualified personnel). The distribution channels (e.g. delivery only to
commercial distributors) are not relevant for classification as B2B equipment.
B2B equipment shall not be delivered to local authority public collection sites and
collected with WEEE from private households, and therefore will not profit from the
free of charge take-back obligations. Producers are not obliged to collect B2B
458 Act Governing the Sale, Return and Environmentally Sound Disposal of Electrical and Electronic
Equipment, as of: 23 rd March 2005, Federal Law Gazette BGBl. I, p. 762.
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