Normas más duras para la recogida y reciclado de aparatos eléctricos y electrónicos en Europa
Los frigoríficos, televisores, aparatos de vídeo, ordenadores y tantos otros terminan en los vertederos de África y Asia contaminando el medio ambiente y a las personas. La normativa europea se endurece para evitar que los Estados miembro se salten su obligación de recogida y reciclado.
Solo una tercera
parte de los residuos electrónicos de la UE se declara oficialmente y por lo
tanto recibe un tratamiento acorde con la normativa europea. La nueva directiva
permitirá a los consumidores devolver los pequeños aparatos, como teléfonos
móviles a las tiendas de electrónica, sin tener la obligación de comprar un
nuevo producto. Además, los Estados miembro deben incrementar la cantidad de
residuos que recogen, independientemente de que hayan alcanzado la meta general
de 4 kilos por persona al año. En 2016, la mayoría de los países deberán
recoger 45 toneladas de residuos eléctricos por cada 100 toneladas de aparatos
que se hayan puesto en el mercado.
En los veintisiete hay 10 países que
deben mejorar sus instalaciones de recogida. Para ellos hay una moratoria y un
objetivo intermedio del 40 por ciento. Los países son Bulgaria, República
Checa, letonia, Lituania, Hungría, Malta, Polonia, Rumanía, Eslovaquia y
Eslovenia.
Se introduce una cláusula que permite a
los consumidores devolver aparatos pequeños a las tiendas , como teléfonos
móviles, sin que tengan la obligación de comprar otro. Aunque las tiendas
pequeñas están exentas de esa obligación. En la directiva se establece que se
deberán utilizar las mejores técnicas de reciclaje.
En cuanto a la
exportación de aparatos fuera de uso, habrá controles más estrictos pata evitar
que terminen en países donde no existe tratamiento para estos residuos. Los
exportadores deberán demostrar que los aparatos se envían para fines lícitos
como su reparación o reutilización. Aunque las exportaciones que se hacen ahora
van enmascaradas muchas veces como ayuda al desarrollo. Los aparatos podrían
reutilizarse si en el lugar de destino tuvieran capacidad para hacerlo. Pero la
falta de preparación o de los repuestos más elementales hace que se destripen
en cualquier lugar y por cualquier persona sin preparar, muchas veces niños, y
terminen en los gigantescos vertederos que rodean a las grandes ciudades, como
el de Agbogbloshie, en las afueras de Accra, capital de la República de Ghana.
Un informe de la
organización danesa Danwatch indica que al puerto de Tema, en Ghana, llegan
mensualmente unos 600 contenedores con unas 112.000 toneladas al año de
aparatos electrónicos obsoletos, procedentes de Italia, Alemania, Holanda,
Reino Unido, Suecia, Dinamarca o Francia.
La organización
Ecologistas en Acción pide un diseño de productos electrónicos más ecológico,
que sea más eficiente con los recursos y que consiga una vida útil más
prolongada de los aparatos.
Resolución original
MEPs approve tougher rules on
electronic waste
Published 20 January 2012
Fuente: http://www.euractiv.com/sustainability/meps-approve-tougher-rules-electronic-waste-news-510260
The European
Parliament yesterday (19 January) approved legislation to strengthen the
recovery of computers and other electronic and electrical waste while
tightening exports of used goods to developing countries, ending months of
hard-fought negotiations.
MEPs adopted the
revamped Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive after
months of pitched battles over
how ambitious the binding law would be.
“We have reached an agreement and it
has not been easy,” German MEP Karl-Heinz Florenz (European People's
Party), the parliamentary rapporteur, said before the vote.
The legislation
obliges EU countries to collect up to 85% of junked refrigerators, mobile phones,
computers and other electronic products by 2019 for recycling, replacing a
current system based on weight. The Commission had recommended a 65% target.
Only about one-third
of electronic waste is recycled today, and half is exported, according to the
Parliament.
Among other provisions, the
legislation:
· Requires larger
retailers to provide collection points for discarded phones and other small
devices to encourage consumers to recycle – although some business groups
complained this placed the collection burden on them.
· Introduces a new
requirement aimed at preventing European companies from dumping potentially
hazardous goods outside the EU.
The compromise
agreement on WEEE garnered broad support across political groups and national
leaders signed off on the recast directive a month ago.
Advocates say the new
directive will help businesses by setting common EU standards aimed at boosting
recycling and encouraging resource efficiency. They also praise new measures
aimed at ending potentially harmful substances from ending up at disposal sites
abroad.
“We have 27 different
standards, so if you ask the question, what is recycling, you could get 27
different definitions,” Florenz told a news conference in Strasbourg. “The
Commission says that is not really the case, but it seems that the member
states are doing whatever they want and after having been a member for such a
long time of this house, I can tell you they they do do what they want.”
The EU’s 27 countries
will have until mid-2013 to incorporate the new rules into national law once
given formal approval by the EU Council of Ministers, though new members will
have two extra years to meet the new targets.
Mining silver and
gold
MEPs see the more
demanding collection and recycling targets in step with the EU’s commitment to
improve resource efficiency. Gold, silver and rare earth metals contained in
discarded products or shipped abroad could be recycled in Europe to cut
dependence on imports, advocates said.
"The collecting
target for member states set by the new regulation is very ambitious and we
have introduced a new category of collecting material for the small IT and
telecom equipment,” said Marita Ulvskog, vice president of the
Socialists and Democrats group.
“This means that the
recovery of rare earth materials will improve greatly," the Swedish MEP
said.
Some environmental
groups, however, said the legislation did not go far enough in setting higher
targets sooner. While the 85% target is an ultimate goal, the legislation imposes
a recovery target of 45% of new electronic sales in 2016 and 65% in 2019 and
gives newer EU members extra time to comply.
“Collection targets
have been delayed and the introduction of economic instruments for greener
design, reuse targets and ambitious recycling targets have been left to a
future revision, which is a bitter blow to the environment and Europe’s
economic development,” said Stéphane Arditi, senior policy officer for the
European Environmental Bureau.
The conservation
group also criticised provisions on exports which will require companies to
certify that goods sent abroad still have some practical use, saying there is
too much wiggle room to export junk.
Chris Davies (Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe, UK), one of the parliamentary negotiators on the
directive, defended the results.
"MEPs fought
hard to set a higher target for the recovery, recycling and re-use of e-waste,”
Davies said in a statement.
"The new rules will make clearer
what used items can be legally exported. This will help to curb the criminals
who ship electronic gadgets overseas where it is dismantled by children and the
poor often in hazardous and toxic conditions.”
Retail groups
complained that the directive unfairly makes businesses responsible for
collection and recycling.
“This places the
burden squarely on private enterprises and is simply not acceptable,” the
European craft and small business employers’ group EUAPME said in a statement.
Nueva ley de RAEE en Europa (documento en inglés)
link
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