Product Take-Back in Europe - Some Legislative Initiatives (Past and Present)

1. Product Take-Back in Europe - Some Legislative Initiatives (Past and Present)

2. EC Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive • Problem: Landfills are filling up and the European Member States must find a way to minimize their future use. • Solution: Use economic instruments to promote EC objectives within a single market. • Means: Recovery and recycling of packaging by weight in accordance with certain targets over time

3. Packaging Definition • All materials for containment, handling, and delivery of products, goods, and raw materials. • Includes: • Industrial packaging • Primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging • No small package exemption. • No food, drug, and cosmetic exemption.

4. Within Five Years of Directive Each member state must: • recover by packaging weight • minimum of 50% • maximum of 65% • recycle by “overall weight of packaging in waste stream” • minimum of 25% • maximum of 45% • per material • minimum of 15% • Note the maxima. Why would one put maxima on recovery?

5. Regulatory Instruments • Within 3 years only packaging meeting the essential requirements may be placed upon the market. • Essential requirements: • volume • weight • composition • returnable • recyclable • recoverable • recoverable in form of energy recovery • compostible • biodegradable

6. German Packaging Ordinance – Duales System Deutschland (DSD) • Green dot symbol which may be applied to packaging for a licensing fee. • Oldest system in place (since 1991). • Private packaging waste collection system for collection, separation and recycling of used packaging. • Onus on manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. • Targets on collection and recycling of packaging: • 80% collection • 90% of collected materials for sorting and recycling

7. DSD – Material Type Distinction As of 1995, the following types and percentages are collected: • Glass ­ 70% • Tinplate ­ 70% • Aluminum/other materials ­ 70% • Laminates ­ 65% • Paper/corrugate ­ 65% • Plastics ­ 65%

8. DSD Experience • High success rate: • 95% awareness • 75% returnable bottle rate • High cost • $6 billion to set up • $1 billion annual operating cost • $160/ton waste management cost • Inability to recycle collected materials • Trade barrier • Increased market entry costs • export of collected materials • unfair dumping practices in underdeveloped countries • Demand for revisions.

9. Electronic Waste in Europe • Project to examine improvement in waste management started in Jan. 1994 and is to be completed by mid-1995. • Take back to be considered • Germany has prepared legislation • France has recommended it in report • Four working groups 1. Definitions 2. Roles and payments 3. Data on waste volumes and content 4. Feasibility, cost and benefits of recovery • Other projects in Europe: • Used tires - Used cars • Chlorinated solvents - Health care waste

10. Germany • Electronic take-back law shelved for the moment (?) • Household appliance manufacturers (Bosch-Siemens, AEG, Miele, Bauknecht) doing joint recycling with waste companies. • Use both “bring” and “curb-side pickup” • All based on disposal fee paid by user. • Consumer electronics (Sony, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Apple, HP) have started a joint recovery/recycling initiative named CARE – Comprehensive Approach for Recycling of Electronics. • CARE proposes to develop, by 2000, international repair, reuse, and recovery standards for products, parts and materials. • Austria will follow Germany on this subject.

11. German Waste Framework Law • To come into force by 1996 • Establishes waste management hierarchy. • Decrees will follow for specific waste streams. • Products must be designed and manufactured to • not create environmental problems during dismantling, recycling, or disposal • be reusable, long-lived, easy to repair • contain no hazardous materials

12. Netherlands • Dutch Environmental Management Act makes manufacturers and importers of household appliances and consumer electronics responsible for developing collection and recycling schemes for their products. • The Dutch Association of Suppliers of Household Appliances (VLEHAN) has developed a collection scheme that would be financed by a surcharge on new products. Tests to be run: • Collection of used refrigerators (in 1995) • Collection of consumer electronics (in 1995) • Household appliances and consumer electronics will be banned from landfills in proposed legislation.

13. United Kingdom and France • UK • Proposal from Industry Council for Electronic Equipment Recycling (ICER) on recycling refrigerators to personal computers. • Tests to start in 1995 on 230,000 households. • Tests both curbside and bring schemes and different recycling techniques. • Levy scheme – based on new products – to fund recycling program. • France • Does not advocate take-back legislation. • Prefers cooperative effort by producers, distributors, and consumers to develop recovery system.

14. Sweden and PVC • The Swedish Life-Cycle Commission – an advisory body set up by the government to develop proposals for material recycling and reuse – has recommended a complete phaseout of PVC in Sweden by 2000. • Nordic countries are discussing proposals to label electronic waste as hazardous waste.

15. Belgium Eco-Taxes • Hits one way packaging and disposable products. • Favors reuse systems: • Beverage packaging • PVC beverage bottles • Single-use cameras • Batteries • Containers of products for industrial use (inks, solvents, pesticides, glues, oils) • Biocides (nonagricultural pesticides for consumer use) • Flanders is preparing to negotiate voluntary waste management agreements with the white goods sector, starting with domestic refrigerators.

16. Belgium (cont.) • Exemption examples: • recycled content of 40% to 80% • refillable containers • Criticisms: • No sound environmental analysis. • Protection of Belgian industry, distorting competition within the EC. • Discriminates against certain packaging without economic justification. • Does not consider recyclability as an alternative. • Does not give sufficient credit to incineration.