The Territory, Environment, Environmental Assets Commission of the Senate approves the legislative decree (aimed at implementing directive 2012/19/EU) regarding the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), but sets conditions.
The past eight years of implementation of the national WEEE collection, recycling and disposal system have seen both light and dark. On the positive side, a competitive regime has arisen in Italy, characterized by numerous consortia dedicated to the disposal of such waste and subjected to the control of the Coordination Centre. The recycling rates have reached, if not even exceeded, the targets set at an international level. A dedicated collection system was also consolidated, which in 2012 saw the presence of 3.672 drop-off points, potentially dedicated to 94 per cent of the population, with 240.000 tonnes treated and with the partial involvement of distributors in the collection system.
The critical issues, however, remain. The percentage level of treated WEEE is in fact much lower than that produced and delivered. Almost one million tons of WEEE are produced in Italy every year, i.e. 16 kg of waste per inhabitant. Of these, it is estimated that 12 kg per inhabitant are somehow delivered by consumers to municipal collection centers or distributors (a goal that the directive requests to be achieved in 2019) and only 4 kg are managed by producers and therefore accounted for.
After a rapid growth in the amount of WEEE treated optimally in the three-year period 2008-2010, the system jammed, so much so that, in 2013, the amount of WEEE disposed of correctly was even lower than in 2010.
All this because the consortium system appears fragmented and difficult to control. There is, consequently, the presence of a parallel, semi-illegal or illegal recycling and disposal system, which results in the insufficient production of secondary raw materials, in the creation of illegal landfills, in the dispersion of solid materials in the environment , liquids and gases dangerous to public health or harmful from an aesthetic point of view. Illegality is widespread and often leads to fires, such as those that have characterized the so-called Land of Fires.
The Commission therefore requests that the draft decree be accompanied by other Government actions aimed at minimizing the costs necessary for the production of raw and secondary materials and for the disposal of WEEE. It is necessary for manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) to calculate the life cycle of their products right from the design phase.
The selection between the waste destined for treatment and that destined for reuse cannot be carried out in the collection centres. The centers are not normally authorized to carry out this subdivision, nor do they have the technical knowledge and professional skills to do so, so there is a risk of nullifying the provisions of the law.
EEE producers must be obliged to indicate separately in the price charged to the consumer the amount of the annual contribution necessary for collection, treatment, recovery and disposal, as is already the case for other environmental contributions (for example, airline tickets).
The collective systems, which intend to carry out the management of WEEE from private households, will have to meet certain minimum requirements, which will be fixed within ninety days of the entry into force of the decree. The government will do all possible measures to encourage the maximum collaboration of distributors and, in particular, the minimization of costs and the maximization of customer loyalty opportunities associated with the collection of WEEE at the points of sale.
Distributors of EEE will then only have to take care of adequate advertising – even with prominent display on their websites – on the possibility and free of charge of collection systems.
