DPASystem Danish Producer Responsibility System Enviromental Sustainability and

DPA-System – Danish Producer Responsibility System Enviromental Sustainability and Producer Responsibility Policy, Legislation and Management of Waste from Electric and Electronic Equipment - WEEE Susan Christensen, December 2015

Producer responsibility Implementation of the WEEE Directive(s) in Denmark Agenda § EU Environmental Policy § The WEEE Directive - An introduction § Environmental targets § The Danish approach in implementation • Organisation and flowchart • Municipal collection • Treatment of WEEE • Resources and values Prevention Preperation for reuse Recycling Recovery Landfill

EU-Environmental policy Main principles: • Sustainable development • “Precautionary principle” • Preventive action • Environmental damage rectify at source • Polluter pays Reduce the environmental impacts associated with resource use and to do so in a growing economy. Priory Waste Streams: Producer Responsibility (EPR = Extended) Packaging Batteries (BAT) Cars –End-of-life Vehicles (ELV) Tyres and Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

WEEE-Directive(s) Year of adoption 2002, transposition 2004, Revision 2012 EEE - Electrical and Electronic Equipment WEEE – Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Ro. HS - Restriction of Hazardous Substances WEEE 2 – Revised WEEE-directive • Fastest growing waste stream ( more than 3 x faster than average growth of waste) • Contains hazardous substances • Contains valuable, scarce and rare resources • Producers responsible for financing collection og recycling and eco-design • Environmental targets to be met

WEEE-Directive Main purposes and objectives are twofold: 1. Environmental protection - reduction of environmental impacts from environmentally harmful substances in electrical equipment. Source: Dailymail. co. uk: Ghana-pics

And 2. Resource utilisation - higher rate of recycling of the raw materials embedded in electrical equipment in order to produce secondary raw materials.

EU- WEEE-Targets Minimize the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste No landfill disposal of untreated WEEE Waste collection points available Certification and BAT- standards for environmental treatment EEE classification in 10 categories and end-user in households or businesses Target Year 2005 -2014: WEEE 1 Year 2014 WEEE 2 Collection rate Min. 4 kg/inhab. WEEE 2016: 45% all WEEE from households 2019: 65% all WEEE Re-use and recycling 50 -75% 2015: 55 -80% Recovery 70 -80% 2015: 75 -85%

Minimum-directive Different implementation in member states Common mandatory requirements to producers: WEEE-registers in each member state: Producers / Importers must register and report annually: Volumes i kilograms of EEE put-on-market + take-back and environmental recovery of WEEE. Marking of products Information obligation about environmental impact Financing take-back schemes

Implementation in Denmark ”We are just a bunch of pyromaniacs, who tosses everything in the incineration chamber” Pyromaniacs or Eco-Gigs ”Contaminated waste like food packaging and hygiene products has a better environmental footprint with energy recovery than recycling” (Engineer) (Biologist) Sustainability through differentiated resource management

Implementation of of. Danish. Producer. Responsibility DPA-System--How Howititisisorganised -by -bylaw § § Name: DPA-System (Danish Producer Responsibility System) www. dpa-system. dk Danish governmental register for WEEE, BAT and ELV Board appointed by Minister of Environment and representing industrial and trade organisations Organisation to administer the legislation by delegate from Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Danish EPA) § § § Clearing house, house neutral and non-profit 100 % producer financed, annual fees Calculate and monitor registrations and volumes (Statististics) Secure transparency and fairness too avoid distortion of market competition Reporting to Danish EPA and EU-Commission In other words –we are just environmental IT-and law nerds!

= Data flow = Fiscal flow = WEEE flow = EEE flow Organisation and flow chart Environmental fees EU End-user Businesses Recycling Industry Handling-Transport Danish EPA Collective Compliance Schemes Municipalities Municipal collection sites DPA-System Board Trade and industry Producers and Importers End-user Households

Municipalities Municipal collection sites 98 municipalities Responsible authority for waste management in Denmark 400 municipal collection sites for WEEE must be sorted i 6 (7) fractions on collection sites: When collection equpment is full the Fraction 1: Large household appliances Fraction 2: Cooling and heating app and sorted WEEE is picked up collected Fraction 3: Small household appliances by collective schemes handling Fraction 4: Screens and monitors Fraction 5: Lightsourcescompanies and will be sold to a recycling Fraction 6: Solar panels company Portable batteries

Collective Compliance Schemes The collective schemes are businesses operating on a competitive market. Against payment they “offers” producers and importers to take care of some of the practical requirements: § Registration of producer/importer in the DPA-System producer register. § Collection of quantities of household WEEE from municipal collection sites. § Provision of take-back logistics for end-users of business WEEE Unfortunately the purpose of the environmental aspect is lost and not transparent to the producers due to the commercial interests in the collective schemes. If producers see that they earn money from their products, also at the end-of-life stage, there is better possibility that they would have a financial incentive for working actively with the producer responsibility, for instance through cooperation with the resource- and recycling industries. Securing an approved environmental treatment and sale of the resources contained in the WEEE. 4 collective schemes in Denmark Commercial company with a business model to lower cost by pooling producers market shares and make central tenders concerning collection/transport/ extraction of raw materials. Large recycling company DPA-System

WEEE Statistics Denmark Can WEEE meet the targets? Tonnes Put-on-market Collected Environmental treatment 180, 000 153. 144 160, 000 140, 000 139, 640 138, 433 Collection percent 46, 6% 120, 000 100, 000 80, 000 76, 206 75, 370 72, 081 72, 261 71. 383 60, 000 40, 000 20, 000 0 2012 2013 2014 77, 609

WEEE Status Denmark Where are WEEE? 180, 000 160, 000 140, 000 120, 000 100, 000 80, 000 60, 000 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Economy and Sustainability = Resources and values Interesting links for further study: Mobiles Environmental Impact, OECD Summary: Excact economy in recycling industry : We don’t know. The living quiet lives well Economic value in material and substance management: Yes Environmental value in legislative controlled waste management: Yes Sustainability? The buzz word is circular economy

Vir gin raw ma ter ial Production Trade with raw material from Urban Mining Urban mining of WEEE Distribution Circular economy Municipal + commercial collection of WEEE Sale Use

Conclusions: Circular economy Economy seen as a result of the structure chosen Ø Due to lack of transparency and auditing of the procedures in the collective schemes we do not know whether the profits made in the collective schemes are visualised and returned to the producers. Ø If producers see that they earn money from their products, also at the end-of-life stage, there is higher probability that they would have a financial incentive for working actively with the producer responsibility, for instance through cooperation with the resource and recycling industries. Ø However, at the moment the situation is such that producers do not see the financial and resource-related benefits from the producer responsibility, since values are primarily accumulated and hidden in the collective schemes. Ø So we still have a problem related to cost distribution, transparency and businesses not meeting their producer responsibility (also known as free-riders).

Thank you for your attention