Dr. Thomas Rummler

1
Collection, Treatment and Recoveryof E-waste in
Germany

• Dr. Thomas Rummler
• Federal Ministry for the Environment,
• Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
• Workshop on
• the management of E-waste
• IFAT China
• 24 september 2008

2
European Union 27

• 491 mio. inhabitants
• 241 Mt municipal waste
• 7 Mt E-waste
• 5 increasing p.a.

3
high tech evolution

• growing population
• increasing demand for EEE
• booming electronic- and IT-industries
• briefer product life cycles of EEE

4
high tech waste no tech treatment

• increasing amount of WEEE
• risk of illegal waste shipment
• hazardous substances may damage
• natural resources and human health

5
High recovery potential

• valuable secondary raw material
• conservation of primary resources
• release pressure on price of raw materials

6
Objectives in the European Union

• 6th Environment Action Programme
• significant reduction in
• waste volumes generated
• quantity of waste going to disposal
• decoupling of waste generation from economic
  growth
• Thematic Strategy on Prevention and Recycling

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RoHS
WEEE
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WEEE Directive RoHS Directive
collection systems for WEEE Extended Producer Responsibility separate collection of household WEEE of min. 4 kg/ capita selective treatment requirements recycling/recovery quotas 50 - 80 as per appliance restricts the use of certain hazardous substances in electronic equipment lead, mercury, cadmium hexavalent chromium (Cr6) polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) medical devices, monitoring and control instruments have temporary exclusions
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Implementation of WEEE in Germany

• 82 mio. inhabitants
• 46 Mt municipal waste
• 1.8 Mt EEE

10
Quantity of WEEE in Germany 2006 (tons)
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Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act, 2005

• Registration by producer before putting EEE on
  the market
• B2B-equipment
• producer has to offer take back-possibilities for
  WEEE to the user
• other arrangements between producer and user are
  possible
• B2C-equipment
• municipalities have to collect B2C-equipment form
  private households
• collection target 4 kg per capita
• producer has to pick-up WEEE from the
  municipalities free-of-charge
• producer is responsible for treatment, recycling,
  recovery
• producer has to report quantities brought on the
  market (market-share)
• producer has to give a financing guarantee for
  disposal costs in case of insolvency
• producers are responsible for historical WEEE
  collectively

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Collection by municipality
(1) large household appliances and automatic
dispensers
(3) IT-, telecommunication- and consumer
equipment
(4) gas discharge lamps
(5) small household appliances, lighting
equipment, electrical/electronic tools, toys,
leisure, sports equipment, monitoring/control
instruments
(2) cooling devices
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Clearing-House

• registration of producers
• proof of producers financial guarantee for
  disposal costs
• centralized pick-up coordination
• municipality reports to clearing house if a
  WEEE-container is full
• clearing-house has to coordinate under
  competition framework that producers take over
  their part of waste equipment
• clearing-house calculates the mass and the
  regional allocation of producers responsibility
  in relation to their market-share of each
  particular product category
• clearing-house gives order to pick-up the
  container from collection point
• centralized documentation and monitoring
• clearing-house collects all datas about
  collection, recycling, recovery by producers
• clearing-house transmits these datas to competent
  authority

14
Decentralized disposal services

• producers are obliged to contract disposal
  services individually
• producers may cooperate in collective return
  systems under conditions of competitive framework
• cooperative return systems must satisfy
  anti-trust regulations

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Treatment, recovery and recycling

• Selective treatment for certain materials and
  components in accordance with Annex II of WEEE
• remove all liquids
• treatment of radioactive substances
• dealing of PCB-containing components
• separation of screen and cone glass from picture
  tubes
• State of the art
• technical requirements, different for collection
  transport treatment
• listed in Guidelines for the enforcement
  (LAGA-Merkblatt)
• layd down in licenses for facilities
• Recovery and recycling quotas in accordance with
  quotas of WEEE
• Documentation by independent experts

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Recovery Recycling Quotas
legal requirements for Recovery Recycling
large household appliances by an average weight per appliance 80 75
IT-, telecommunication- and consumer equipment by weight of the appliances 75 65
small household appliances lighting equipment electrical and electronic tools toys, leisure and sports equipment monitoring and control instruments automatic dispensers by an average weight per appliance 70 50
gas discharge lamps by weight of the lamps 80

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Recovery- and Recycling-Rates Germany 2006 - in
to collection -
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Collection, Treatment and Recoveryof E-waste in
Germany

• Thank you very much for your attention!
• further Informations on
• www.bmu.de