Interview with Luigi Meli, Secretary General of CECED – European Committee of Domestic Equipment Manufacturers 

Interview by Raluca Grințescu, published in edition no.1/2012 of Infomediu Europa

What are the expectations of CECED for 2012 on legal improvements that could increase WEEE collection?

Today the Directive will be approved by the European Parliament. From now on we enter the period for the full implementation in the member states. There are positive elements, such as the harmonization of the registers all over Europe. However, we see this as a missed opportunity as the new text fails to address the issue of grey market, that is 2/3 of the waste that is escaping any control and is not recycled up to the standards required to the manufacturers.

How can it be rectified?

This is an important issue. Surely Member States are fully aware and they have acknowledged that 2/3 of WEEE is escaping control. So far they have failed to deliver solutions or show the will to address a solution. We will have to work very hard both at national and European level to continue pressing policy makers to address this issue.

Could you give us some examples of good practices in EU or other countries that can be implemented more widely?

What we have seen so far as a good practice is that in some member states authorities have started controlling what really happens on the field and this should be the first practice to be generalized. Without control, there will never be a good quality on the market because we know that waste is a difficult subject and there are many ways in which these streams can be deviated. Secondly, if we have more compliance schemes there should be a clearing house. This means an authority that is able to allocate WEEE to different systems in order to avoid that any speculation is made out of this and WEEE are illegally exported or there are certificates issued on paper that do not correspond to the recycled waste.

We know that the lack of coordination or imprecise description of the obligations of some actors is affecting the appliances’ selling prices. Is there any hope to see important changes this year? 

You mean the recycling costs. Yes indeed, some of the WEEE can make good money for the waste handlers. Hence the big issue: producers are anyhow obliged to cover and to prepay the costs of recycling for all generated waste, the good and the bad, in terms of returning value. In the current situation, generated waste with some value is taken out by those operators and the consumers are left to bear the costs irrespective of the kind of waste, without being able to benefit from the returning value of these fractions. This is the key message that we have to deliver to the policy makers, otherwise consumers will be disappointed by a low quality service.

What are the steps for a better WEEE legislation?

We need new methodologies and we will focus our work on this issue, for instance the calculation of the targets. The Directive says that in seven years time there will be the possibility to choose the targets that will be established based on the products placed on the market or on generated WEEE. We are absolutely in favor of the latter, and the next years will show that this is the real approach. On the other side, we have to continue telling decision makers that they have made the wrong political decision and that the problem still remains unsolved. We have been restless in the specialized Brussels media, hammering for months and months that 2/3 of WEEE is escaping control. We will continue raising this issue to Commissioner Potocnik as well. It is outrageous to see that although the member states have acknowledged the problem they hid their heads in the sand.

What information do you have about WEEE recycling in Romania?

I know and I have seen evidence that the problem of the grey market is very significant in Romania. There is an illicit export of WEEE and very low quality in treatment in some places. On the other side, we know that RoRec and the producers are committed to improving the situation for the proper recycling, at the level required by the Directive. Obviously if they don’t get the WEEE they cannot recycle and this is frustrating.

Are there any solutions which can be implemented in Romania?

I think it may help if the Ministry took a different approach and found a way to open communication with the producers and compliance schemes. I am not perfectly up to date with the situation but what I recall I have seen is not very clear. I addressed our concerns to the Ministry of Environment some time ago when there was a revision process of the Romanian legislation because of an EU infringement procedure and I do not think that the situation has improved ever since.

What do you think about this year’s edition in terms of organization and innovation?

The fact that this edition is addressing the export of waste is a significant improvement for me. It is surely a step forward in the right direction, together with the clear request to harmonize registry procedures. Another issue that needs further development is a common European set of standards for logistics, treatment and recycling. This is a relevant point on which we have been active. Together with the WEEE Forum and compliance schemes, we have started working and developing WEELABEX standards and bringing them forward to the Standardization Community in CENELEC in order to adopt them and make them available to all. Another element that should be taken into consideration is that 2012 is the worst year from an economic standpoint since the crisis started. Clearly we are in the middle of the struggle and Romania is one of the critical markets. The commitment of the industry is unchanged but I think that policymakers should understand that the industry is facing one of the most difficult years in economic terms. Adding burden on the industry without giving the possibility to the producers to properly manage the cost factors deriving from these obligations should be avoided, and particularly today it becomes more sensitive.