Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he intends to review the regulations under the WEEE directive in order that a fair proportion of the burden for funding the scheme is placed on the producers of electrical and electronic goods, as set down by provision (20) of EU Directive 2002/96/EC, rather than the burden being placed on the consumer as is currently the case. [5295/06]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the average percentage of retail prices of electrical goods which is attributable to the environmental management charge as specified by regulations under the EU WEEE directive; the projected revenue from this charge for the first year of the scheme based on this figure; if the projected revenue exceeds the €10 million to €14 million his Department estimated would be required to fund the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5294/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 115 and 116 together.

The WEEE scheme has now been operating for almost six months and the real benefits of this new system for consumers and the environment are becoming apparent. WEEE is now being collected from more than 180 collection points nationwide. Early indications are that significant quantities of this waste type are being returned for recycling. In the first 12 weeks alone 4,800 tonnes, equivalent to an annual rate of almost 20,000 tonnes, of household WEEE was collected. This points to a fourfold increase in the recycling of household WEEE, as 5,510 tonnes of this waste type was recovered in 2004, and indicates widespread public support for the implementation of the directive. While the new regulations will be kept under review there is no proposal to alter the fundamental principle of shared responsibility which underpins the scheme.

Implementation of the directive has not had a negative impact on the consumer price index. This is confirmed by the CSO which recently reported that prices of major household appliances have decreased by 1.3% in the past 12 months and prices of small electrical household appliances have decreased by 0.5% over the same period.

The WEEE directive allows producers to show the cost of recovering and recycling "historic" waste, that is, waste arising from electric and electronic products put on the market before 13 August 2005. These costs are referred to as environmental management costs or EMCs. They are not imposed by, or remitted to, the Government but are paid by producers to the two collective compliance schemes operating in Ireland, WEEE Ireland and the European Recycling Platform. These schemes are on a not for profit basis, operating as a producer responsibility initiative. The purpose of the EMCs is to enable the schemes to pay for the environmentally sound management of all household WEEE taken back by retailers or deposited by members of the public at local authority civic amenity sites.

The EMCs currently applied show the costs of recycling based on data submitted by producers to the WEEE Register Society Limited. The WEEE register assessed and approved the EMCs. The EMCs are currently under review and it will be a matter for the WEEE register to validate any revisions. The WEEE task force report estimated that the costs of collection and treatment could amount to between €10 million and €14 million per annum. The electrical and electronic equipment sector in Ireland has an estimated annual turnover of €1.6 billion. I understand that the WEEE register will make data on the scheme available following completion of the current review. As the scheme is a producer responsibility initiative, such data is not collected by my Department.