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Dear Readers!
In Germany super election year 2017 is well underway. The Saarland election has already taken place, with Schleswig-Holstein and the most populous of the German Länder, North Rhine-Westphalia, set to follow in May. General elections for the Bundestag will then be taking place in September. In these times of populism and fake news, this election will play a pivotal role. Germany has the strongest economy and largest population in Europe. The outcome of the election will have repercussions for all of Europe and influence economic and political relations with other countries around the world. In view of the dimensions involved, a key topic unfortunately often takes back seat: recycling and its importance to climate and environmental policy. We wanted to size things up accurately and enquired with all the major political party groups about their platforms concerning environmental policy in the upcoming legislative period and beyond. You will find a summary of the responses in this issue’s feature article and the complete responses online at remondis-aktuell.de. Whether elections turn out to be good for the climate and the environment in general and our growth sector in particular will ultimately be decided by hopefully well informed, active citizens.
Some legislative bills have been initiated shortly before the elections – for example, the new Commercial Waste Regulation (Gewerbeabfallverordnung). It will involve important changes that have a major impact on our commercial customers when the new regulation goes into effect on 1 August 2017 at the latest. Under the new version, companies producing waste in connection with housing construction will be obligated to separately collect the waste items of paper, cardboard and pasteboard with the exception of hygienic paper, glass, plastics, metals, wood, textiles, organic waste and additional commercial and industrial waste already where it comes about, i.e. at companies themselves. The same goes for construction and demolition waste, which is already to be separated at the building site into the various waste categories such as glass, plastics, metals, wood, insulation material, bituminous mixtures, building material based on gypsum, concrete, bricks, tiles and ceramics. This is no doubt good news for improved recovery of raw materials, but it also means greater expenses for customers, who REMONDIS will support professionally as accustomed with practicable services in line with laws and regulations.
And how do things stand at present when it comes to refugee policy? The number of new persons seeking asylum arriving in Germany has dropped significantly. The biggest challenge now is to successfully integrate these people in our society and the German world of work. REMONDIS is taking on this challenge, hiring young people as well as persons with work experience in various fields who have lost their home as a result of war, famine and displacement and now want to venture a new beginning in their adopted country of Germany. A real win-win situation, as a successful start to a vocational career is the best contribution that can be made to a society living together in prosperity and peace. Here as well, REMONDIS meets its responsibility to society as a whole, acting in the spirt of its own slogan: working for the future!
YoursThomas Conzendorf
- REMONDIS AKTUELL
- 01.2017
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Retailers must fulfil their obligations
Businesses dealing in electronic devices that fail to live up to their obligations to accept returns of equipment stipulated by law face juicy fines beginning in June 2017 at the latest. Adopted last November, the revised Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (Elektrogesetz) requires for the first time specific proof of quantities beginning in April of this year. Failure to abide by its stipulations is punishable by fines of up to 100,000 euros. According to the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, enforcement is to be strengthened and law-abiding commercial enterprises protected against free riders. All commercial establishments with store, warehouse and shipping spaces of 400 m2 and above are subject to the obligation to accept returns.
The goal: 65% of all old devices should be returned
The Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act [ElektroG] is the German transposition of the European WEEE Directive regulating the introduction on the market, return and recycling of electrical and electronic devices. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment is in charge at the policy level. Legal and technical supervision as well as monitoring of the market is in the hands for the Federal Environmental Agency. The aim and objective is to permanently boost the quantity of electrical and electronic devices returns taken back by at least 65 per cent for all new equipment introduced in commerce beginning in 2018. This will save on resources and the environment.
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“WEEE Return helps business implement statutory requirements, from IT support to the provision of suitable container systems, collection, transport and recycling all the way to reporting,”
is how Gerhard Jokic, Managing Director of WEEE Return, sums it up
The current figures are sobering
In actual practice, acceptance of returns by businesses is lagging, however, as the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act have thus far not provided for any sanctions on refusal to accept returns. This impression is not least corroborated by store and online checks carried out by Deutsche Umwelthilfe and testberichte.de. Thus, for example, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has already sent the first admonishments to companies that register high levels of sales revenue like IKEA and Amazon and announced additional campaigns, but for the time being is not resorting to court action.
The wording of the new law is unclear
The new arrangement is additionally complicated by a restriction with hazy wording. Accordingly, the obligation to accept returns is to be limited to five used devices per device type if no new equipment is purchased. The draft act leaves completely unresolved, however, whether this is supposed to mean five devices per year, per end user or per request for acceptance of return. The draft act and statements by various delegates to the German parliament suggest, however, that five respective used devices per return transaction are meant. Theoretically, consumers could thus demand that businesses accept returns of five used devices every day anew without purchasing any new device, even if this scenario appears unrealistic. For businesses, this change in stipulations is especially important, as it means that the list of fines under the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act is being expanded. In the future, it will be deemed to constitute an administrative offence if a business does not take back a used device, or does not do so correctly, completely or in due time. Such cases are subject to hefty fines of up to 100,000 euros.
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The objective is to permanently boost the quantity of electronic and electrical equipment returned to over 65 per cent of all new equipment introduced in commerce beginning in 2018. This will save on resources and the environment
Consumers need to be better informed
At a special conference on “Enforcement and Further Development of Product Responsibility 2017” staged in Berlin on 19 January, consequences and recommended actions for the sector were discussed. The participants were largely in agreement that various regulations like the Electronic and Electrical Equipment Act and the Battery Act should be comprised together in the same law in order to boost transparency and optimise enforcement.
Moreover, the branch issued a plea for public-relations work to be made part of product responsibility in order to better inform consumers. Considerable need to catch up is seen with regard to the enforcement of the regulation. Stricter controls on registration, notification and monitoring are held to be crucial preconditions for effective implementation of the regulation with the objective of countering the flagrant “disappearance” of old equipment.
Help provided by take-back schemes
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At present, professional return systems are gearing up to ease worries on the part of business enterprises over costly sanctions being imposed on them, including WEEE Return, which is based in Berlin. Its Managing Director, Gerhard Jokic, is offering to help out interested businesses. “WEEE Return helps the trade implement statutory requirements, from IT support to the provision of suitable container systems, the collection, transport and recycling all the way to reporting,” according to Jokic, and recommends that businesses introducing electronic and electrical equipment in the market should definitely seek professional support with regard to the collection and recycling of used equipment.
WEEE Return provides retailers with the help they need, ensuring they avoid the heavy fines. Learn more here (German only)
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