The Netherlands retail from criticism on the European compromise on a revised directive that retailers with a floor space of 400m lwa or more required to waste electrical and electronic equipment to collect and process.
In the compromise text for the so-called WEEE-directive, which the European Parliament and of the Council of member states of the European Union this week have been drawn up, it is no longer virtually each seller of electronics required to electronic waste, to take and to process. With the compromise, only retailers with a floor area of 400m2 forced to discarded small electrical and electronic devices in order to collect.
Retail the Netherlands is not to speak about the compromise. The trade association is angry that the ‘old-for-new principle’ was killed. In addition, consumers can only a product in a store to return if they at the same time, a similar new device buy. Furthermore, retailers with a large floor area are required to have unlimited access to discarded equipment, while, according to Detailhandel Nederland more effective alternative collection systems, such as inzamelbakken.
According to Retail the Netherlands, retailers are also at a disadvantage compared with online stores and vendors at the door. It is according to the organization, an illusion, that consumer defective equipment to return to a store, allowing a retailer now, these electronics need to process. The trade association fears that with them large heaps will arise.
Retail the Netherlands states that the directive is primarily no justice is done to the principle of producer responsibility and that this responsibility increasingly shifts to the selling party. The organization advocates for better information for consumers, more inzamelbakken in shopping centres, and collection by retailers on a voluntary basis.