A new Program Agreement was signed between the WEEE Coordination Center, the most representative national trade associations of distribution, producers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and waste collection companies, the new Program Agreement governing the conditions of service of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) of household origin at distribution collection sites throughout the country. The document developed by the parties is provided for in Article 16 of Legislative Decree 49/2014, implementing Directive 2012/19/EC, and is valid throughout the three-year period 2022-2024.
Rewards for distribution clustering locations.
The WEEE regulations require distribution to collect WEEE free of charge when supplying a new EEE - either through the physical network or through online sales - due to the "one-for-one" service (Ministerial Decree 65/2010) and collection without obligation to purchase under the "one-for-zero" service (Ministerial Decree 121/2016) for small electrical and electronic equipment. The new Program Agreement defines the modalities and timing of WEEE take-back from what are called distribution grouping places, the organization of collection in a homogeneous way throughout the country, and the rewards: the efficiency rewards recognized by EEE producers through collective systems to distribution grouping places upon the occurrence of good operating conditions. The economic contributions consist of an amountdefined for the five groupings for each ton of WEEE properly collected. In the text, the levels of economic rewards awarded to distribution grouping places have been revised upward from the first quarter of 2023. For the first time, an additional incentive mechanism is introduced that rewards in an incremental form those grouping places that increase from one year to the next the quantities delivered to the Collective Systems.
A new fund for distributors
An important new feature introduced in the document is the establishment by manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment through Collective Systems of a Fund of 300 thousand euros for the three-year period 2022-24, to be allocated to trade associations that commit to promoting the creation of new distribution grouping places at their members. The resources will be allocated through specific calls for proposals to distributors who develop experimental projects to carry out actions to increase collection. "Distribution in recent years has steadily increased its role in the proper environmental management of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment," comments Alberto Canni Ferrari, president of the WEEE Coordination Center. "However, the system cannot be considered fully functional; the direct and active involvement of retail operators, both physical and virtual, in WEEE collection still has wide margins for growth. We are confident that the rewards and related mechanisms provided for in the new Program Agreement will foster the growth of the overall network of retail collection places registered with CdC RAEE throughout the country and consequently support the continuous improvement of overall collection within the CdC RAEE circuit.At the same time,they will promote the reduction of the phenomenon of technological waste dispersion."
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