Comments on: Upfront recycling fees can help curb flood of e-waste http://www.greenbang.com/upfront-recycling-fees-can-help-curb-flood-of-e-waste_12386.html Sustainable Energy Insight Fri, 27 Jan 2012 01:18:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: MoebiusDick http://www.greenbang.com/upfront-recycling-fees-can-help-curb-flood-of-e-waste_12386.html/comment-page-1#comment-10411 MoebiusDick Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:45:39 +0000 http://www.greenbang.com/?p=12386#comment-10411 In Europe the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive already ensures that recycling of all electrical and electronic waste is paid for upfront- and that if you are replacing an old product with an equivalent new product (eg. video player with DVD player) then the company whose new product you are buying will also have an obligation to pay for the recycling of the old product. These are measures that have been in place since Jan 2007 in the UK, and we were one of the last European nations to implement the EU directive driving this. The legislation focusses on reuse before recycling and so does indeed encourage the extending of product lifespan. However, the problem is that there is not an adequate market for the recylced materials, nor can many European based operations compete with Chinese labour intensive operations. Which means that it is not viable to recycle a lot of waste so, even though the recyling has been paid for by the producers of the equipment the recyclers are not recylcing it until it becomes viable. Ideally the legislation should include a clause that ensures a minimum percentage of all products is constructed from recylced material/ parts. Only then will this law have the desired effect. Please see http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/waste/32084.aspx for more details.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('10411','MoebiusDick'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('10411','MoebiusDick','In Europe the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive already ensures that recycling of all electrical and electronic waste is paid for upfront- and that if you are replacing an old product with an equivalent new product (eg. video player with DVD player) then the company whose new product you are buying will also have an obligation to pay for the recycling of the old product. These are measures that have been in place since Jan 2007 in the UK, and we were one of the last European nations to implement the EU directive driving this.\r\nThe legislation focusses on reuse before recycling and so does indeed encourage the extending of product lifespan. \r\n\r\nHowever, the problem is that there is not an adequate market for the recylced materials, nor can many European based operations compete with Chinese labour intensive operations. Which means that it is not viable to recycle a lot of waste so, even though the recyling has been paid for by the producers of the equipment the recyclers are not recylcing it until it becomes viable. Ideally the legislation should include a clause that ensures a minimum percentage of all products is constructed from recylced material\/ parts. Only then will this law have the desired effect.\r\n\r\nPlease see http:\/\/www.environment-agency.gov.uk\/business\/topics\/waste\/32084.aspx for more details.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> In Europe the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive already ensures that recycling of all electrical and electronic waste is paid for upfront- and that if you are replacing an old product with an equivalent new product (eg. video player with DVD player) then the company whose new product you are buying will also have an obligation to pay for the recycling of the old product. These are measures that have been in place since Jan 2007 in the UK, and we were one of the last European nations to implement the EU directive driving this.
The legislation focusses on reuse before recycling and so does indeed encourage the extending of product lifespan.

However, the problem is that there is not an adequate market for the recylced materials, nor can many European based operations compete with Chinese labour intensive operations. Which means that it is not viable to recycle a lot of waste so, even though the recyling has been paid for by the producers of the equipment the recyclers are not recylcing it until it becomes viable. Ideally the legislation should include a clause that ensures a minimum percentage of all products is constructed from recylced material/ parts. Only then will this law have the desired effect.

Please see http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/waste/32084.aspx for more details.

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]]> By: Alexander http://www.greenbang.com/upfront-recycling-fees-can-help-curb-flood-of-e-waste_12386.html/comment-page-1#comment-9944 Alexander Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:18:34 +0000 http://www.greenbang.com/?p=12386#comment-9944 Great article! As a Palo Alto and California native I'm thrilled to hear the benefits of our state fee. Too many people complain about recycling fees for electronics without even realizing the major problems of e waste and dangers of improper recycling. Furthermore the number of products released with virtually no difference is absurd! Check out our blog post regarding the similarities in different generations of digital cameras. http://www.trade2save.com/blog/2008/03/14/spot-the-difference-canons-new-powershot-upgrade/ We also hope this research result will encourage people to extend the lifespan of electronics and start looking into the preowned market. Keep up the good reporting! -Alex<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('9944','Alexander'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('9944','Alexander','Great article! As a Palo Alto and California native I\'m thrilled to hear the benefits of our state fee. Too many people complain about recycling fees for electronics without even realizing the major problems of e waste and dangers of improper recycling. Furthermore the number of products released with virtually no difference is absurd! Check out our blog post regarding the similarities in different generations of digital cameras. \r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.trade2save.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/14\/spot-the-difference-canons-new-powershot-upgrade\/\r\n\r\nWe also hope this research result will encourage people to extend the lifespan of electronics and start looking into the preowned market. Keep up the good reporting!\r\n\r\n-Alex'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Great article! As a Palo Alto and California native I’m thrilled to hear the benefits of our state fee. Too many people complain about recycling fees for electronics without even realizing the major problems of e waste and dangers of improper recycling. Furthermore the number of products released with virtually no difference is absurd! Check out our blog post regarding the similarities in different generations of digital cameras.

http://www.trade2save.com/blog/2008/03/14/spot-the-difference-canons-new-powershot-upgrade/

We also hope this research result will encourage people to extend the lifespan of electronics and start looking into the preowned market. Keep up the good reporting!

-Alex

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