Consorzio EcoR'it - waste to discover and exploit

The legislative decree D.Lgs. no. 151/2005 came into force on 13 August 2005 and has had effects on the so-called “liable parties” following the publication of the decree of 25 September 2007

On 18 February 2008 the WEEE system started.

The decree is aimed at preventing the production of WEEE, at promoting its reuse, recycling and recovery, at improving the parties that take part in the lifecycle of this equipment and at reducing the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.

The collective schemes of producers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) have to guarantee a separated collection with recovery and reuse targets for components, materials and substances, by average weight per item of equipment, predetermined by law and equal to:

• 80 % and 75 %, for large household appliances and automatic
• 75 % and 65 %, for I&CT and consumer equipment
• 70 % and 50 %, for small household appliances, lighting, instrumentation, toys, leisure and sports equipment, and monitoring and control instruments
• 80 % and 80% for lighting equipment

The EU Directive sets as a target reaching a level of separated collection of WEEE from households of at least 4 kg per inhabitant on average a year.

Under the terms of the WEEE Decree (d.lgs. n.151/2005 - article 3, paragraph 1, letter b), the following definition applies:

waste electrical and electronic equipment or WEEE: the electrical and electronic equipment that is considered waste under the terms of article 6, paragraph 1, letter a), of the Legislative Decree 5 February 1997, no. 22, and its later modifications, hereafter referred to as "Legislative Decree no. 22 of 1999", including all the components subassemblies and consumables which are part of the product at the time of discarding"

The electrical and electronic equipment in the categories indentified in Annex I A are included(article 2, paragraph 1 of d.lgs. no. 151/2005):

1. Large household appliances
2. Small household appliances
3. IT and telecommunications equipment
4. Consumer equipment
5. Lighting equipment
6. Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large-scale stationary industrial tools
7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment
8. Medical devices
9. Monitoring and control instruments
10. Automatic dispensers

The measures contained in the decree are intended for (as a guideline):

The producers (manufacturers and/or importers) of electrical and electronic equipment who have the duty to finance, organize and manage an integrated system for the treatment of WEEE through enrolment in the Collective Schemes.

The local councils (or parties delegated by them) who have the task of making available for the private user and distribution appropriate collection facilities for the return of WEEE and informing consumers about the measures adopted by the public administration so that consumers can contribute to the collection of WEEE, and facilitating its reuse, treatment and recovery process.

The distributors, called upon to organize a free WEEE withdrawal service for what is returned by consumers on a one-to-one basis at the time of the purchase of a similar item of electrical or electronic equipment.

The citizens, the final holders, must return WEEE exclusively to the collection facilities arranged for by the councils, or redeliver it to the distributors at the time of purchasing a similar item of electrical or electronic equipment, when the currently suspended “one-for-one withdrawal” comes into force.

For more information go to the specific sections on: Producers, Distributors, Users, Local bodies.

The Legislative Decree 151/2005 sets out the following institutional parties:

National Register of Liable Parties for the Treatment of WEEE
Set up by the Ministry of the Environment under the terms of Article 14 of D.Lgs. 151/05 and managed by the Supervision and Control Committee, it gathers the data of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market.

Coordination Centre (WEEE “CdC”)
An institution planned by Legislative Decree 151/05 (article 13) for the "optimization of the collective schemes’ core work, guaranteeing common, homogeneous and uniform operating conditions".

The WEEE “CdC”, financed by the collective schemes, has the task of coordinating the collective schemes in order to:

• guarantee a homogeneous service of WEEE collection and treatment over the whole of Italy;
• allocate fairly the WEEE managed by the collection facilities to the collective schemes so that the latter may treat their WEEE share in comparable operating conditions;
• be the sole partner for the Collection Facilities l’unico interlocutore which will have an internet portal at their disposal for registrations and a call center for the gathering of withdrawal requests;
• represent the consortia with all the reference partners (Government, Anci - councils association, Federdistribuzione – distribution federation).

For more information go to www.cdcraee.it

Supervision and Control Committee
An institution planned by Legislative Decree 151/05 (Article 15) with the functions of:

• managing the National Register;
• calculating the respective market shares of the producers/collective schemes;
• supervising and monitoring infringements of the legislation’s application
• processing the data related to the recovered objects

Management Committee
It performs the task of supporting the Supervision and Control Committee. In particular, it monitors the operations, logistics functions and economy of the WEEE management system, forwarding to the Supervision and Control Committee its evaluations and suggestions for improvement.

Article 16 of D.lgs 151/2005 lists the following administrative penalties

For the Producer who fails to:

• enrol on the National Register (www.registroaee.it): from € 30,000 to € 100,000;
• organize the separated WEEE collection system: from € 30,000 to € 100,000;
• communicate to the National Register the sales volumes: from € 2,000 to € 20,000;
• supply the information about the WEEE system in the instructions: from €2,000 to €5,000;
• place on the equipment the “crossed out wheely bin” symbol: from €200 to €1,000 for each item of equipment;
• arrange financial guarantees for each new item of equipment placed on the market: da €200 to €1,000 for each item of equipment;

for the distributor who fails to:

• withdraw or withdraw after payment the used equipment after the purchase of new equipment on a “one-for-one” basis: from € 150 to €400 for each item of equipment.

The producers of household equipment must divide, in proportion to their market share, the costs actually incurred for the management of historical household WEEE, that is all the waste that arrives at the municipal collection facilities returned by household users.

For the purposes of the WEEE management system taking part in a collective scheme (consortium) is compulsory for producers of household EEE in order to fulfil their obligations for the management of historical WEEE.