Thursday 28 May 2015

EU takes Germany to court over e-waste

EU takes Germany to court over e-waste

Germany is being referred to the European Court of Justice for failings over electrical waste - or e-waste.

It failed to enact the EU legislation on recycling e-waste, which is intended to prevent or reduce the negative environmental impact, the European Commission said.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive should have been put in place as national law by February last year.

“The rules are based on a revision of the previous WEEE Directive and they incorporate a number of new or substantially modified provisions, none of which have yet been transposed by Germany,” the Commission stated.

It is asking the Court to impose a penalty payment of €210,078 (£149,764) per day on Germany until the law is put in place.

E-waste, which includes computers, TV sets, fridges and mobile phones, is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the EU, according to the Commission.

Around nine million tonnes of e-waste was generated in 2005 and the figure is expected to grow to more than 12 million tonnes by 2020, it added.

A recent research found e-waste is costing the world around $52 billion (£35bn) every year.

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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