WEEE Directive Consultation

In the context of the upcoming evaluation of the effect of the WEEE Directive, the European Commission is soliciting the views of stakeholders about the effects of this legislation on the reduction of waste from electrical and electronic equipment. RGDATA would appreciate to receive your views on the effects that this legislation has had on your business by Friday 15 September COB. 

What is the EU’s WEEE Directive?

The Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment requires the separate collection and proper treatment of WEEE and sets targets for their collection as well as for their recovery and recycling. For WEEE from private households, it requires from Member States to ensure that “distributors provide for the collection, at retail shops with sales areas relating to EEE of at least 400 m², or in their immediate proximity, of very small WEEE (no external dimension more than 25 cm) free of charge to end-users and with no obligation to buy EEE of an equivalent type.”

What is the objective of this consultation?

The consultation carried out for this evaluation aims to

• gather information, data and experience on the implementation of the WEEE Directive;
• solicit views and opinions of stakeholders on the extent to which this Directive has met, or is on track to meet, its objectives and;
• gather views on the Directive’s relevance taking into account developments impacting electrical and electronic equipment and the generation of waste.

Why does this matter for retailers?

If the evaluation finds that the collection at retail level has been particularly efficient and successful, the obligations on retailers could be further extended (e.g. to smaller stores or to more appliances). An evaluation could also find an insufficient transposition or enforcement and therefore harden the rules in this sense. Therefore, the signalling of problems to the Commission is crucial.

What is expected from retailers?

Retailers should provide us with any type of information they deem useful, including data, detailed explanations on their experiences with their obligations to collect WEEE in their stores. As this Directive has been implemented differently at the national level, it would be useful to point out to us what the biggest problems have been for you at the national level (e.g. administrative burden, issues with recyclers, storage space, dangerous goods e.g. risk of fires…).

Timeframe

With our apologies for the short timeframe – we would like to receive your responses to the attached consultation as well as your opinion on the effects of the WEEE Directive on your business – for inclusion in a position paper – by Monday 18 September 2023 COB.