Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE):
The main reason for the WEEE Directive is to improve electrical and electronic equipment waste management. It also aims to encourage manufacturers and importers ('producers') to develop products that are easy to recycle. The WEEE Directive therefore makes manufacturers, as well as importers of electronic and electrical equipment, responsible for meeting the collection, recovery and treatment of WEEE costs. Though many in industry across Europe are worried about the impact of such associated costs, such an impact could be significantly reduced by designing products with from the outset with the WEEE Directive in mind.
To date, responsibility for recycling has generally been with the people recycling the item, with costs being met through both local and national taxes, plus business collection levies. The WEEE Directive moves the main responsibility to manufacturers - 'Producer Responsibility'. These are manufacturers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment as well as importers.
The Directive will result in significant costs being incurred by electrical equipment manufacturers ('producers') and importers. Manufacturers need to estimate their own likely costs, so as to be able to plan for the future.
Recyclers will need to be able to deal with the large amounts of recycled materials that will become available, and Local Government or Authorities, or equivalent, need to know the types and amounts of consumer WEEE that need to be collected and transported. Removing hazardous substances (such as those covered in the RoHS Directive) as well as PCBs and liquids. Only licensed operators will be able to handle and recover WEEE.
A related Directive is the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS).
Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS)
Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment:
The RoHS Directive 2002/95/EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment has the role of reducing harmful substances at source, ensuring that these hazardous substances are not leached into the environment by equipment, some of which will inevitably not be recycled.
The Directive has also been designed to tackle the fast increasing waste stream of electrical and electronic equipment and complements European Union measures on landfill and incineration of waste. The Directive complements the WEEE Directive by cutting the amounts of potentially hazardous materials contained in electronic and electrical products. This is aimed at reducing risks to recycling staff, and should also minimise the need for special waste treatment and recycling equipment. This, in turn, could also help cut the cost of managing WEEE.
While the WEEE Directive sets minimum levels for recycling that must be met, the RoHS Directive is explicit about which substances should be restricted and the precise levels to be tolerated.
Lead is just one of several banned substances in the RoHS Directive. While industry has adopted 'lead free' techniques, removing lead alone will not achieve RoHS compliance. Other substances proscribed by the RoHS Directive include cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).