Why is selective collection necessary?
What products are not covered by this legislation?
As a producer, what should I do?
Where can I take the WEEE?
How is a mixture of WEEE classified?
What is the European standard for labelling EEE marketed from 13 August onwards?
CHow is it decided whether WEEE should be transported as dangerous goods? |
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| Why
is selective collection necessary? |
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In current municipal waste
flows, the presence of waste from electric
and electronic equipment (WEEE) is growing
increasingly significant.
With a high annual growth
rate, if it is not collected separately
and subjected to the selective treatment
of the components and materials used in
its manufacture, WEEE can cause much of
the pollution present in leachates collected
at landfills or in atmospheric emissions
that must be treated in incinerators.
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| What
products are not covered by this legislation?? |
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| The scope of application
of Royal Decree 208/2005 excludes the
following electric and electronic equipment:
- Equipment that corresponds
to another appliance type not included
within its scope of application.
- Equipment for specifically
military purposes necessary for national
security.
It also excludes,
- Lamps from private households.
- Filament bulbs.
- Those medical appliances
or products that have been implanted
and infected with blood and other biological
contaminants.
- Large-scale stationery
industrial equipment, installed by professionals.
For those products that
cannot be clearly classified in one of
the 10 categories contemplated in the
legislation, the Technical Adaptation
Committee (TAC) for WEEE and RoHS Directives,
made up of the Member States of the European
Union and of which the Ministry of the
Environment is a member, exists to discuss
those cases in which certain products
may lie outside its scope of application.
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| As
a producer, what should I do? |
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Notify the autonomous community of the site
of the company’s headquarters and
the Spanish Registry of Industrial Establishments
of:
- Status as a producer
of electric and electronic equipment.
- The procedure chosen
to guarantee that the WEEE of products
marketed from 13th August 2005 onwards
are collected selectively and managed
in an environmentally correct way, either
by implementing an individual management
system or by participating in one or
several authorised integrated management
systems (collective system).
The financing of the individual
management systems must be guaranteed
by the provision of evidence of recycling
insurance or a blocked bank account. Proof
of participation in an integrated management
system must be provided by giving evidence
of membership of the IMS as a producer.
For WEEE from private households
marketed prior to 13th August 2005, known
as historic waste and collected on a collective
basis by all existing producers at that
moment, each producer will assume some
of the costs that arise, on a proportional
basis to the market share by equipment
type corresponding to it, of which the
Spanish Registry of Industrial Establishments
will notify the producer.
The cost of historic waste
management must be reflected in the price
of products marketed from 13th August
2005 onwards and a detailed breakdown
of their amount must be specified on the
invoice issued to users. |
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| Where
can I take the WEEE? |
|
WEEE from private households
must be taken to:
- Manufacturer-established
collection systems.
- Distributors, at the
time of purchase, if the appliance is
to be replaced by a new equivalent unit.
- The municipal collection
systems provided by local entities (tips,
collection of large-volume waste, door-to-door
systems, etc.)
If the WEEE is not considered
to be from private households,
- If the product was purchased
after 13th August 2005, use must be
made of the selective collection system
established by the manufacturer, who
will assume the costs of management.
- If the product was purchased
prior to 13th August 2005, if it is
replaced by another, the supplier-manufacturer
will assume the costs of managing the
withdrawn appliance. If it is not replaced,
the user must assume the costs of management
and may either deliver the equipment
to the manufacturer-established system
or directly assume its management.
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| How
is a mixture of WEEE classified? |
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| When waste classification
is not carried out for each appliance but
a series of mixed appliances in a container
or in a transport crate is classified, if
the non-presence of any appliance that may
be considered to be hazardous waste cannot
be ensured, the whole lot must be classified
as hazardous waste. The
same applies to managers who store or
recover them. It they specialise in one
type of waste for which the non-presence
of hazardous components is known, they
may apply for authorisation as a manager
of non-hazardous waste. If there is any
chance of receiving waste that includes
appliances with PCBs, CFCs, free asbestos
or hazardous components such as batteries,
mercury switches or cathode ray tubes,
they must apply for authorisation as a
manager of hazardous waste. |
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| What
is the European standard for labelling EEE
marketed from 13th August onwards? |
|
| By European Union regulation,
the European Committee for Electrotechnical
Standardisation (CENELEC) has developed
a European standard to label electric and
electronic equipment marketed after 13th
August 2005. This
standard has been transposed by the Spanish
Association for Standardisation and Certification
(AENOR) by means of regulation:
UNE-EN 50419:2005 labelling of electric and electronic equipment in accordance with article 11(2) of Directive 2002/96/EC (WEEE)
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| How
is it decided whether WEEE should be transported
as dangerous goods? |
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In order to determine
whether the transport of WEEE must be
performed as TDG-ADR transport, it is
necessary to assess the presence or absence
of components such as cells and batteries
that, if assembled in the equipment do
not present any risk but, if outside mixed
with other waste and with an unknown charge
status, no guarantee can be provided that
a short circuit will not occur, with its
corresponding risk of accident, while
they are being transported.
Very often, codification
as hazardous waste does not necessarily
mean classification as dangerous goods.
As a general rule, when those new products
that are transported as dangerous goods
become waste, they must be transported
in the same way.
Because application of the
ADR regulation is highly complex, a safety
advisor on the transport of dangerous
goods must be consulted to help the waste
owner choose whether transport should
or should not have TDG-ADR authorisation.
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