Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 1541: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the rationale for charging consumers an environmental charge on electrical goods in the case of consumers who are not disposing of old goods; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29778/06]

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 1555: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will review the recycling charge for electrical goods; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29893/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1541 and 1555 together.

The WEEE scheme came into effect in August 2005 and has been a remarkable success. In the first 12 months of operation, 27,700 tonnes of household WEEE was collected. This represents approximately 2.3 million electrical and electronic products. This contrasts to the 5,510 tonnes of this waste type which was recovered in 2004 and indicates widespread public support for the scheme. Under the terms of the WEEE Directive, financing the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment is now solely a producer responsibility.

The Directive places two distinct obligations on producers: producers must finance the recovery and recycling of any item of household electrical and electronic equipment they themselves have placed on the market since 13 August when it reaches end of life; and producers must finance the recovery and recycling of all household electrical waste that arises from goods sold before 13 August 2005 (known as "historic WEEE") in proportion to their current market share. This includes paying for all historic waste as it arises whether it is taken back by a retailer on a one-for-one basis or deposited at a local authority recycling centre. It also includes paying for waste from producers who are no longer in the market or who cannot be traced. The Directive allows producers to show the cost of recovering and recycling "historic" household WEEE, in recognition of the substantial legacy of old waste which is now the financial responsibility of current producers.

The EMCs show the costs of recovery and recycling based on data submitted by producers to the WEEE Register Society Limited, the industry-based national WEEE registration body, which has an independent Committee of Management. The approval of EMCs is a matter for WEEE Register and my Department has no function in the matter. EMCs 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 who are operating the Producer Responsibility Initiative. Both organisations operate on a not for profit basis.

Following a thorough review of the initial EMCs the WEEE Register announced reductions for most categories of electrical and electronic equipment in July last and these were implemented with effect from 1 August 2006. A further review of the EMCs applying to fridges and fridge-freezers has now been completed by WEEE Register and reductions in these were announced this week.