On an operational level, the Legislative Decree 151 of 2005 has been translated into a system of national WEEE management in which all the parties that are involved in the hi-tech waste sector, particularly producers, distributors and local bodies, on the basis of the responsibilities the legislation assigns them.
WEEE FROM PRIVATE HOUSEHOLDS: Waste from private households or similar by nature and quantity
As regards the management of WEEE from private households the duties and responsibilities can be charted like this:
| HISTORICAL HOUSEHOLD WEEE |
|
NEW HOUSEHOLD WEEE |
| From equipment put on the market before 1 January 2009 |
|
From equipment put on the market after 1 January 2009
|
|
Collective responsibility: duty to enrol in a collective scheme
Responsibility share: market share |
|
Individual responsibility: each producer deals with his own waste
Need for guarantees on the financing of the system |
For WEEE from private households the legislation sets out that the producers should be organized into collective schemes with the task of starting up the recycling of hi-tech waste gathered at the recycling centres that there are over all the country.
The collective format is a free choice (as is set out in the European directive) and the producers may choose the most efficient collective scheme.
The various collective schemes, operating in free co-operation under the supervision of the WEEE coordination centre (a body set up by law which defines the operating and logistics rules for the proper management of WEEE over all of Italy), have the aim of cost containment and continuous improvement of service levels.
The collective schemes can be multi-sector and can operate on all types of WEEE or be specialists in individual grouping (cooling and heating, consumer electronics, lighting, etc.) and manage only certain types of product.
The principle of market share is used for the financing of the WEEE management system: the share of historical WEEE from private households for whose management each producer is obliged to finance is decided for each category on the basis of the share – calculated with the sales figures communicated to the National Register of Producers - put on the market in the year in question.
Then each collective scheme is assigned a number of collection points in all of the country which is proportional to their market share, and they have to carry out the collection services at these points.
The legislation includes the opportunity for the producers to also indicate in the new product’s final cost – separately and visible to the final user - the part of the cost incurred for the management of the historical waste (the so-called visible fee).
As regards the management system for new WEEE from private households, the legislation sets out that the producers must:
- arrange for the management of their brand’s WEEE even of the user does not purchase any new equipment;
- provide adequate guarantees for the management of “future” WEEE at the time of putting the equipment on the market.
This aspect is not applicable in the absence of a reliable and economical system for the identification of the producers.