MEPs want tougher e-waste targets

The European Parliament’s environment committee has called for member states to introduce tougher e-waste targets, which could require countries to collect 85 per cent of e-waste by 2016.

MEPs want more stringent collection rules to be enforced in a bid to cut down on the amount of electronic waste that ends up in landfill sites or exported outside of the EU.

The members of the environment committee voted for changes to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive which would impose a target to collect 85 per cent of the total e-waste generated by 2016.

"Collecting and recycling e-waste is good for the environment and good for the economy. Parliament's ambitious but achievable targets will help recover valuable raw materials and cut the flow of e-waste to landfills, incinerators and developing countries," said rapporteur Karl-Heinz Florenz.

But not all Brussels mandarins support such challenging targets. The Council of Europe favours a target of collecting 65 per cent of e-waste to be phased in by 2020.

Currently, the WEEE Directive demands that countries collect an annual target of 4kg of e-waste per citizen.

Members of the European Parliament are scheduled to hold a plenary vote in January 2012, to allow further negotiations with the Council.