Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Article 15 of Council Directive 75/442/EEC, as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC, states that the cost of waste disposal must be borne by the holder who has the waste handled by a waste collecter, or the previous holder or the producer of the product from which the waste came; if he intends to amend the WEEE regulations in order that the producers of the products being disposed of under the WEEE directive will be obliged to pay their fair share of the recycling and disposal costs of their products. [5320/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Primary responsibility for the environmentally sound management of WEEE rests with producers, in line with the producer responsibility obligations imposed by the directive. Producers are required under the legislation to finance the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE deposited by retailers and members of the public at collection facilities and to achieve the prescribed recovery targets.

Important responsibilities are also placed on retailers who are obliged to take WEEE back on a one-for-one basis, local authorities in providing the necessary infrastructure, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, which has the lead role in enforcement and consumers who are required to act responsibly in disposing of WEEE. This balance of responsibilities as between the various stakeholders is in line with other producer responsibility schemes such as packaging waste.

The directive places two distinct obligations on producers. First, they must finance the recycling recovery of any item of household electrical and electronic equipment they have placed on the market since 13 August 2005 when it reaches end of life. Second, all producers have to pay for the recycling of all household electrical waste, termed "historical WEEE" which arises from household goods sold before the 13 August in proportion to their current market share. This includes paying for all historical waste as it arises whether it is taken back by a retailer on a one-for-one basis or deposited at a local authority civic amenity site. It also includes paying for waste from producers who are no longer in the market or who cannot be traced.

The WEEE directive allows producers to show the cost of recovering and recycling "historical" waste. 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. 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.

I am satisfied that the legislation strikes the proper balance between the responsibilities of the relevant stakeholders.