A WEEE Follow Up
October 24, 2018
Dear Producers and Stakeholders,
WEEE thank you for attending our conference WEEE Generation: Future Proofing Through Innovation and Excellence. The day’s discussions celebrated the achievements of the e-waste recycling sector while showcasing the innovations that will take it into the future. Not only did the day consist of a variety of high quality of speakers touching on important topics, there was also fantastic engagement with our audience. Attendees contributed to discussion on the challenges on developing a more circular WEEE economy, contemporary research in the e-waste sector, as well as the industry’s transition to Open Scope standards in line with recent regulatory change.
WEEE Ireland would like to extend our sincere thanks to our Moderators, Presenters and Exhibitors who helped make our event the huge success that it was.
Please find below some of the presentation from the day, links to more information on the topics presented and contact details for our speakers or the organisations they represent.
As a reminder the agenda link can be found on our website here.
Session I Circular WEEEconomy
Maria Banti from the European Commission, DG Environment presented the keynote presentation: ‘Circular WEEEconomy’ – The Role of the EU’where she outlined the next steps in improving the WEEE system in line with the CEP developments.
Maria Banti has been at the European Commission at the Directorate General for the Environment since 2012. She is in charge of the WEEE Directive and has supervised a number of studies and projects aiming at the implementation of this Directive and the development of new European legislation in relation to the management of WEEE. For more information on the Maria’s topic, visit the EU commission CEP site
Korrina Hegarty, APPLiA, Home Appliance Europe presented: ‘Home Appliances, Material Flows and a Circular Society’
Korrina Hegarty is APPLiA’s Environment Policy Director, leading the team working on environmental issues that are relevant for the household appliance sector, including resource efficiency, the circular economy, waste, chemical and materials issues. Korrina described developments across the home appliance sector in improving resource efficiency and the new circularsociety.eu and the I4R platform websites to support and showcase Producer efforts in this regard.
Chris Slijkhuis, Müller-Guttenbrunn Group & EERA presented: ‘Recycling plastics from WEEE requires a sensible and practical approach on POPs’
Chris is also a board member of the European Electronics Recyclers Association EERA. He is the spokesperson for the E-Waste plastics recycling in EERA and described in detail the challenge to the sector with the current screening thresholds in place identifying certain POPS in WEEE plastics. For more information on Chris’ topic visit WEEE Recycling Economics and Responsible Recycling of WEEE Plastics containing BFRs.
Session II R&D EEE and Batteries: Past Learnings and Future Challenges
WEEE Ireland actively encourages members to get involved in Irish research projects details of which can be found on the EPA STRIVE website. We welcome feedback and ideas from our Members for future projects that will support WEEE and Battery Circular Economy developments and improvements on behalf of Producers.
Dr. Margaret Bates, University of Northampton presented: ‘Global Ewaste Challenges & PolyCE project’ and requested stakeholders to get involved with the PolyCE Consumer Survey. Margaret has been involved in wastes management for over 25 years and appears in the Hot 100 (Resource Magazine) most influential people in wastes management. For more information about Margaret’s topic please visit the Poly CE website.
Dr Colin Fitzpatrick, University of Limerick presented: ‘Recent Research on WEEE in Ireland’. Colin’s project work focuses on topics including electronics reuse, preparation for reuse of WEEE, repurposing of WEEE, WEEE management amongst others. For more information on Colin’s topic, visit the UPWEEE research project and EPA Strive research pages.
Simon Eves, Panasonic UK presented: ‘EPR for WEEE and Batteries – Past, Present and Future: A Producer’s View’
Simon Eves, the Head of Panasonic UK and Ireland’s Environmental chairs the Waste and Resources Group within TechUK, the UK tech trade association, and is an active participant in the British and Irish Portable Batteries Association (BIBPA site). His detailed presentation highlighted issues for Producers relating to data accuracy and national reporting transparency. He can be contacted at Simon.Eves@eu.panasonic.com for more information on his topic, and the current consultancy page for the Recast Battery directive can be found here.
Sarah Downes, REPIC presented: ‘A New Dynamic Model for WEEE’
Sarah is responsible for external liaison in the UK and Europe at [REPIC]. She led the Prosum Platform project for the WEEE Forum and has more recently managed the initial phase of the Dynamics WEEE model.
Session III EPR Transition: Open Scope and Extended Producer Responsibility New Rules
Pascal Leroy – General Secratary WEEE Forum The WEEE Forum is a European association of 33 electrical and electronic waste collection and recovery systems and WEEE Ireland is an active Member learning and sharing on WEEE best practice since 2007. For more information about the WEEE Forum visit their website and paper on open scope and the WEEELABEX website.
Jorge Vicente – WEEE Europe presented: ‘WEEE Europe – a One-Stop-Shop Solution also for B2B producers’
WEEE Europe is a joint venture of leading European Take-Back Systems for WEEE and Batteries and point of contact for manufacturers, online retailers, importers and exporters of electrical goods and batteries. WEEE Ireland works with WEEE Europe to provide Pan European Compliance Solutions for its Members. The Challenge of compliance in the B2B sector was one of the key focuses of Jorge’s presentation and further information on this and WEEE Europe services can be found on their website or by contacting j.vicente@weee-europe.com directly.
Dominic Henry – Producer Register Ltd presented: ‘Open Scope and 6 Categories’
Dominic heads up the National Registration Body: Producer Register Limited. The transition to open scope and 6 category reporting is an important one for the industry and Members are encouraged to engage with the register and WEEE Ireland to understand the changes needed for their reporting systems. The Producer Register Ltd will also be hosting a seminar on the 13th of November in the Crowne Plaza Santry Dublin to outline final details for the transition from 10 to 6 categories of EEE and Blackbox reporting in Ireland. Email info@producerregister.ie for more details.
Michael Owens from the Environmental Protection Agency presented: ‘Introducing EWEN – the European WEEE Enforcement Network’
The Irish EPA provides detailed guidance to Producers of EEE and Batteries on their website here. Michael gave an overview of the current work areas and innovation including from the Network for Ireland’s Environmental Compliance and Enforcement NIECE and the new European WEEE Enforcement Network (EWEN) For more information from the EPA visit their website, or contact Michael at m.owens@epa.ie.
Nigel Harvey from Recolight presented: ‘Tackling the Scourge of Freeriding through Online Marketplaces’
As Chief Executive of Recolight is very active in both the lighting and WEEE sectors including working with Eucolight and the WEEE Forum on the challenge of non compliance through the developing ecommerce distance selling marketplace. For more information on Nigel’s topic visit the Recolight and Eucolight websites.