The WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive, passed by the European Parliament in October, has the opportunity to change the face of remanufacturing in Europe in the coming years, with worldwide implications as well.
The Directive indicates what proper disposal will be for electrical and electronic equipment in the 15 European Union member states, and will affect anyone who does business with European countries. This Directive may also set a standard for dealing with waste, which could affect future legislation in the United States and elsewhere.
Many remanufacturers see the WEEE Directive as a positive move and an example of how the industry can successfully organize to lobby for change. But now that the Directive is in the final stages, there is still discussion about how the Directive will take shape and be implemented in the different Member States.
The Directive’s interpretation is still being debated, including the role of toner and inkjet cartridges and if chips are explicitly outlawed. Also, collection schemes have yet to be developed. But to understand this more clearly, we’ll start with an overview of the history leading to the current status of the WEEE Directive.
History of the WEEE Directive
It has been less than two years since the remanufacturing industry in Europe started organizing to get industry interests represented in European legislative actions.
Industry members had been keeping an eye on the situation for a while, but the action really started in spring 2001.
"At Remax 2001, I was discussing with several of my people whether we should get into development and production of chip technology," said Jan De Kesel, president of CF-Technologies. "During those conversations, I got more and more convinced about the fact that our industry needed to do something about the different steps that the different OEMs were, more and more, taking towards the protection of their sales through chip technologies.
"This coalition of OEMs has succeeded very well in expelling our industry from the successful CeBIT show," De Kesel said. "Those people know what they are doing.
"For this reason, I looked up David Connett at the show and suggested that something needed to be done. David agreed about having a first meeting with possible ‘first stage decision makers,’ which could lead to results. … We quickly came up with a short list of people to hold the ‘first stage’ meeting in Portugal."
Those people were invited to a meeting on June 3, 2001, and included De Kesel, David Poulton from SCC, Marcus Wingate from AQC, Connett from the Recycler Trade Magazine and Freddy van Hoorebeeck from CF-Technologies.
At the meeting, several topics were discussed, including restraint of trade (through chips, etc.), waste management/EU regulations, and how to promote the industry or raise its profile, perhaps even through lobbying. It was decided that an Industry Forum (IF) should be arranged to discuss these ideas further. The IF would be a venue for 150 invited industry members to hear speakers and discuss the industry’s future.
De Kesel said, "David took over everything from then onwards and all of us supported the first action, the IF conference in Barcelona" in February 2002.
The forum provided a useful way for industry members to meet to discuss the current state of affairs and what actions needed to be taken. One of the outcomes was that it was decided to lobby more actively for industry interests in the European Parliament.
"After this conference it was clear that the industry was agreeing that we needed to back and to fund the first activity: the changes to the existing WEEE drafts. The reason was, of course, that there was no quicker opportunity than the change of these drafts to get results that could change the future," De Kesel said.
With Connett taking a lead role in coordinating the lobbying, a professional public relations company, Edelmans, and law firm, Bird & Bird, were hired to take on this task. Vincent van Dijk worked on the PR side, and Bernard Deltour and Bruno Vandermeulen looked at the legal aspects.
Connett said, "Here at the Recycler Trade Magazine our role in the WEEE directive has been the coordination and management of the lobbying effort. We put together a team comprising a lobbyist and specialist legal team to work to an agreed brief, and at the same time to provide political support as needed. We took on the role of fund-raiser and provided a link back to the industry. We were able to coordinate targeted lobbying by fax to key decision makers, which I believe got our industry message across."
Along with Laura Heywood of UKCRA, they worked on getting remanufacturing industry issues included in the WEEE Directive. Member of European Parliament (MEP) Chris Davies was contacted and informed of the impact of "clever" chips. He took on the cause and helped get changes to the Directive.
"When I approached Chris Davies, MEP, last January, it was regarding spare parts restrictions of many OEMs where certain spare machine parts were only made available to their own service repair centers," Heywood said. "It was at this time I mentioned about ‘clever chips,’ … proceeding to explain how they disable the printer even when the cartridge has been refilled/remanufactured."
Connett was already coordinating the industry’s campaign and lobbying, Heywood said, so her talk with Davies "was a timely meeting that resulted in two concerted efforts resulting in one channeled direction of success.
"Davies felt these ‘clever chips’ went against the environmental policies that the EU was in the process of forming, and … successfully resulted in them being included in the WEEE Directive," Heywood said.
While this was in the works, European companies were also submitting information to the European Parliament in support of the amendment, and remanufacturers contacted their local MEPs to help explain the industry’s concerns.
"Personally I am incredibly grateful to those companies that both funded and supported the activity and without whose support we could never have achieved the Directive," Connett said.
The WEEE Directive was initially passed by the European Parliament on April 10, 2002, by a vote of 592-9.
While that initial victory was important, the Directive then had to enter the "conciliation" stage, where exact wording is determined. During this process, MEP Davies helped to get the wording of what is now Article 4 strengthened to do more than "encourage" producers not to prevent re-use. The final wording instead says "do not prevent," a much stronger position. This version passed on Oct. 11, 2002.
The Directive is now in the "linguistic verification" period, where it is translated into the various languages of the Member States. It is during this stage that the interpretation is determined, said Heywood.
"The entire WEEE Directive is currently subject to legal linguistic verification and still to be approved by the European Parliament and Council between Dec. 16-19," Heywood said. "But like any law, there are interpretations of the Directive that are currently taking place even before the full implementation takes place by the 15 Member States that make up the EU (European Union – UK, France, Germany, Spain, etc.).
"It’s still early yet. The legal terminology on how it will be determined is yet to be developed," she said. "It’s going to take a while, but it’s all in the interpretation.
"The Directive is still in the process of being translated into the community languages and checked for legal certainty and accuracy. It is far too soon to state as fact any part of the Directive until this has been finalized," Heywood said.
Once the linguistic verification is concluded, the Directive will have to be implemented in each of the 15 Member States, which will take place 30 months after the final version of the Directive is approved.
A Look at the WEEE Directive
What exactly does the WEEE Directive say? One of the most important parts of the Directive is Article 4, which discusses guidelines on re-use. In its most recent form, the article states:
Member States shall encourage the design and production of electrical and electronic equipment which take into account and facilitate the dismantling and recovery, in particular the re-use and recycling of WEEE, their components and materials. In this context, Members States shall take appropriate measures so that producers do not prevent, through specific design features or manufacturing processes, WEEE from being re-used, unless such specific design features or manufacturing processes present overriding advantages, for example, with regard to the protection of the environment and/or safety requirements.
In the best possible interpretation, industry members say, the Directive would be taken to mean that "smart" or "clever" chips are not allowed in printer cartridges. This would definitely be a positive effect for Europe, and perhaps the rest of the world. If such devices are outlawed in the European Union, it will raise questions about whether the OEMs can justify the continued use of the chips in other markets.
There is already discussion of how the Directive will be interpreted. To understand, we’ll take a look at how WEEE is defined and how cartridges fit into this.
The definition of what is waste electrical and electronic equipment is set forth in the Directive’s Article 3. It first defines what is EEE, and then what is waste EEE (WEEE).
Article 3(a): "Electrical and electronic equipment" or "EEE" means equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Annex IA and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1000 Volt for alternating current and 1500 Volt for direct current.
Industry technical experts indicate that many cartridges should fall under this definition, especially toner cartridges and inkjet cartridges that include a print head. Toner hoppers and some inkjet cartridges do not have electrical current running through them and, as such, might not be included as EEE. The Annex IA is a list of equipment categories, and includes such wide categories as "large household appliances," "toys, leisure and sports equipment" and the category most relevant to our industry, "IT and telecommunications equipment." This is further defined in Annex IB to include various computers (from mainframes to notepad computers), as well as "printer units" and "printers." Cartridges are not specifically mentioned on the list, but for personal and laptop computers, the annex says that peripheral items such as "CPU, mouse, screen and keyboard (are) included."
The annex also includes "other products and equipment for the collection, storage, processing, presentation or communication of information by electronic means," giving another possible area where cartridges might be included.
It is interesting to note that the only place that toner cartridges are specifically mentioned is in Annex II, where there is a list of items that receive "selective treatment." It states that "As a minimum, the following substances, preparations and components have to be removed from any separately collected WEEE," and gives a number of items that must be removed, including batteries, asbestos waste, cathode ray tubes, etc. One of the lines is "Toner cartridges, liquid and pasty, as well as color toner."
It is not quite clear what implications this might have. It could be that a printer could not be "recycled" – which may include shredding plastic components – with the printer cartridges still in it, as it is possible that the toner could contaminate the attempts at plastic recycling.
WEEE is defined in Article 3(b).
"Waste electrical and electronic equipment" or "WEEE" means electrical or electronic equipment which is waste within the meaning of Article 1(a) of Directive 75/442/EEC, including all components, sub-assemblies and consumables, which are part of the product at the time of discarding.
Various interpretations exist, but some of these could imply that only the cartridge in the printer at the time it is discarded would fall under WEEE Directive. Of course, a producer (OEM) can’t really know exactly when the printer would be discarded, and thus it could be interpreted that all cartridges must meet the Directive’s guidelines, just in case it is in the printer when it is discarded. See box at right for more information on Directive 75/442/EEC.
What Happens Now?
In the UK, the Directive would be implemented by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which has already been leading seminars around the UK on how the WEEE Directive will influence companies. Unfortunately, reports indicate that DTI representatives are telling seminar attendees that consumables, and thus cartridges, are not covered by the Directive.
"Some of these interpretations have caused concern, but we are dealing with it through the proper channels," Heywood said. She has been meeting with MEP Davies about these items, and he is looking into the implications.
Commenting on the definition in Article 3(b), Heywood said, "The whole purpose of WEEE is to minimize the environmental impact of waste by encouraging product end-of-life management – geo-design – encouraging the design of products in such a way that encourages reuse, life-cycle thinking and extended producer responsibility. To not include them in WEEE because of a generality of the provision that (reads) – ‘...which are not part of the product at time of discarding’ – strains the natural reading of the text and runs counter to the legislative intent clearly set out in the recitals and in Article 1 of the Directive.
"Article 1 of the Directive could not be clearer in setting out the legislative intent: ‘The purpose of this Directive is, as a first priority, the prevention of WEEE and in addition, the re-use, recycling and other forms of recovery of such wastes so as to reduce the disposal of waste,’" Heywood said.
"In my own opinion, how much clearer do the lawmakers need the interpretation of this directive to be – with its intent to minimize waste to the environment – for common sense to prevail? This Directive will be enforced the way it was intended – to preserve the natural resources of our environment (with) re-use as first in the hierarchy and then to reduce and recycle," Heywood said.
The interpretation is still open to debate, and one party trying to get its viewpoint heard is the Industry Council on Electrical Equipment Recycling (ICER), which claims to be "a source of knowledge and expertise on recycling Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)." This organization’s members include companies from many sectors, but the printer OEMs include Hewlett-Packard, Brother, Kyocera Mita, Fujitsu and Epson.
Heywood and other industry members attended a recent ICER meeting titled, "The ICER Accreditation Schemes: Preparing for the WEEE Directive," which was held Nov. 14, 2002, in Dunchurch. The keynote address was made by Mark Downs of DTI.
The ICER Web site reports that "ICER’s current priorities include: Working for pragmatic implementation of the WEEE Directive, particularly how to: co-ordinate collection, meet recycling targets, provide data, demonstrate compliance, organize flows of funds … (and) developing the ICER Accreditation Schemes for WEEE Recyclers and Computer Refurbishers."
Heywood said, "Whatever the opinions the Department of Trade and Industry has (it is the DTI who will be implementing the WEEE in the UK), or a Member Government has, it is EU law and it is up to EU lawyers and the Commission to interpret. What they decide is the (correct) interpretation cannot be challenged."
"We are confident that the European Parliament and Commission will make the right decisions in regard to what is the best environmental objective here – common sense and clear logic upholding the principles of reuse will take precedence over economics," said Heywood.
Commenting on the Directive, Fred Duffy, chairman and C.E.O. of the Greenman Group, said that he believes it is too early to see exactly how things will develop – Duffy’s view is that "we have won a battle, but the war will continue."
He said that the wording of the Directive, including the term "re-use" "certainly strengthens the remanufacturer’s case."
Duffy said, "For example some of England’s Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were lobbied by the OEMs and were persuaded that ‘recycle’ (as in crush down to basic materials) was more environmentally sensitive than ‘re-use.’ The fact that ‘re-use’ is highlighted in the Directive is very useful to our industry. The WEEE Directive is an unprecedented initiative that has left member nations with a huge challenge and it will be some time before the responsibilities and reaction of all the players are clarified."
Duffy added, "It is up to each of the 15 Member States of the EU to pass appropriate legislation and it will be necessary for remanufacturers in each country to monitor and lobby their own government."
Each country is implementing the Directive on its own, with different agencies that might have different interpretations. European remanufacturers need to be aware of the agency that is implementing the Directive in their country, and take as active a role as possible in how it is interpreted and put into action.
"The WEEE Directive will become law shortly and within 30 months or so will be enshrined in the national legislation of each member state and the 10 countries seeking to join the EU in 2004/2005," Connett said. "However we do still need to ensure that at a national level governments do fully implement the Directive."
Heywood agreed. "It is important that every European remanufacturer is getting feedback from his or her respective governmental department in charge of implementing the WEEE Directive."
Now that the Directive is closer to implementation, the industry has more work to do.
"I am convinced that it is OK that there is still a lot of interpretation possible on this law," De Kesel said. "The worst that could happen is that there is a clear black/white situation with a clear law saying that everything needs to be recycled. This would be the worst situation to be in right now, because I think this industry is not ready."
For De Kesel, it all comes back to quality and standards. In order to keep the industry from being taken over by the OEMs, "associations, vendors, shows, magazines and remanufacturers have to take this situation seriously and bring the industry to the next level.
"There is no common goal right now. Therefore there will be no total solution," De Kesel said. "In the end, remanufacturing and manufacturing will have to work together. We cannot eat them, they can eat us. If we make sure we are a ‘necessary force’ they have to deal with (because we have created a worldwide collection system, for example), then we can both survive. No negotiation can be won by the weakest negotiator. We need to make sure we are an equal force to them.
"What will be important from now onwards? Not only that an association is formed and will be run professionally, but it is also very important to convince every remanufacturer that NOW is the time to act as a professional," De Kesel said. "If this industry wants to be taken seriously, we all need a business that competes with the OEMs, as that is the standard of quality.
"Can we do better than them? In some cases, we certainly can. Bringing a consistently high-quality product to the marketplace and taking care of the environment (during production and with our own waste disposal) is something we all have to commit to," De Kesel said. "Without that, even with all the new legislation, we will lose the battle. With it, we will be taken as a serious alternative to OEM or new products."
For more information, the the WEEE Directive is available online at www.dti.gov.uk/support/summary.htm. All citations from the WEEE Directive are from the Nov. 8, 2002, version.
