Brussels, 20/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - Over and above the benefits to public health and the environment, ambitious targets for the collection and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment approved by the European parliament (EP) on Thursday 19 January, are a source of revenue in times of crisis, said both EP rapporteur Karl-Heinz Florenz (EPP, Germany) and Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik. “Today's decision by the European Parliament is good news for health of our citizens, Europe's competitiveness, and the environment. In these challenging times of economic change and rising prices for raw materials, resource efficiency is where environmental benefits and innovative growth opportunities for European industry come together. The European Parliament has given a great boost to this policy, raising the binding collection levels to 85% by 2019. I hope this will encourage some member states to be more ambitious, and meet the new targets even sooner than this deadline”, the commissioner said. Florenz highlighted to press the importance of recovering precious raw materials, such as gold, silver, copper and rare metals contained in our old computers, TVs and mobile phones. “One tonne of electrical and electronic waste represents five times more gold than a gold nugget. We are the main exporters of these goods, yet we import much of the raw materials”, he pointed out.
In the EU, the existing binding EU collection target is 4 kg of waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) per capita, representing about 2 million tonnes per year, out of around 10 million tonnes of WEEE generated per year in the EU. It is estimated that, by 2020, the volume of WEEE will increase to 12 million tonnes. The new target endorsed by the EP, an ambitious 85% of WEEE generated, would ensure that around 10 million tonnes, or roughly 20kg per capita, would be separately collected in 2020. (AN/transl.rt)