EU Parliament considers WEEE regs

EU Parliament considers WEEE regs

By Jake Thomas, Resource Recycling

The European Parliament's Environment Committee will consider a draft recommendation for a recast of the European Union's WEEE Directive, which will increase collection targets across member states.

Earlier this year, the European Parliament voted to rework its WEEE Directive [1], which first went into effect in 2003 and required manufacturers of electronic goods to pay for recycling of their end of life products.  The directive also set stricter rules on exports.  But with items covered under the original directive growing rapidly, European parliamentarians decided it was time for an update.

The new directive calls on member states to meet an ambitious 85 percent recycling target of WEEE by 2016, a big jump from the current four kilogram per-person target.

However, the new measure still has hurdles.  Europeanvoice.com [2] reports the EU Council of Ministers wants a lower 65 percent recycling target that will go into effect eight years after the directive comes into effect.

[3]

To return to the newsletter, click here [4].