Manufacturers must cover cost of electrical goods' disposal

national | environment | other press Wednesday July 13, 2005 13:03 by Java Beens

[reproduced from Examiner as you have to pay to see online]

Irish manufacturers will have to pay for the collection and disposal of all old electrical goods to avoid multi-million euro fines under new regulations published today (6th July)

Environment Minister Dick Roche said the new regulations would be applied strictly and manufacturers who failed to comply with the environmentally-friendly practice would face fines of up to €15m or 10 years in jail.

Mr Roche denied the new cost implications on the manufacturing industry would drive up the price of goods.

“I don’t believe that is going to happen,” Mr Roche said, adding that the disposal costs would be included in the price of goods all across Europe.

He said: “The cost of dealing in an environmentally-friendly way with waste electrical goods and equipment is going to be built into the cost of production in the same way as the cost of steel, or glass, or rubber, or any other parts they put into it.”

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will enforce the new European Union directives which come into play from August 13 next.

The regulations bring two EU directives – the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and the Restriction on Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment – into Irish law and provides the framework for its implementation.

Shops will have to take back old electric and electronic goods, once consumers are finished with them, under the WEEE directive

“It will mean that people will be able to bring waste back, or when they are getting a fridge delivered they can get one taken away,” Mr Roche said.

“It will also mean that people who have that old washing machine stuck at the back of the shed or wherever, and they are wondering what to do with it, can bring it down for free to the local civic amenity centre.”

The WEEE Directive means producers are responsible for the costs of collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of the goods.

Consumers will be entitled to leave the waste goods back free of charge to retail outlets, when a replacement item is purchased, or to authorised collection points.

Households in Ireland currently throw out around 65,000 tonnes of old goods, including old televisions, computers and washing machines, every year, and only recycle around 15,000 tonnes of the goods.

“There is tremendous advantages coming out of this, it means that waste material that is going into landfill will no longer go into landfill,” Mr Roche said.

Ireland will become the second country in the EU, after Greece, to implement the directive, while many other countries have delayed the introduction of the directive for up to a year.

“The electrical goods industry in this country is worth in excess of a billion per year,” Mr Roche said.

“The actual cost of the WEEE directive will be around €14m a year and that is actually going to be part and parcel of the overall cost of producing and distributing any electrical goods.”

The industry has been warning that as well as the cost of implementing the directive, retailers will also face storage costs.

Mr Roche said a new industry-based body, the WEEE Register, set up under the Environment Department will begin registering manufacturers to ensure that each company pays its proper share for the recycling costs of the equipment replaced during the year.

The minister brought in three sets of regulations, including one amending the Waste Management Act 1996, to enable the implementation of the directive.

The regulations allow producers to participate in a collective scheme or to self-comply to fulfil their obligations.

Mr Roche said it was envisaged that two such schemes would operate – WEEE Ireland and the European Recycling Platform (ERP).

The minister said IBEC and the Environment Department would host regional seminars explaining the new regulations over the next month.