EU evaluation of the WEEE Directive reveals major shortcomings
The EU is working on a major evaluation that could lead to several changes to the WEEE Directive in the coming years.
The European Commission has published a new evaluation of the WEEE Directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
The evaluation will form the basis for an upcoming revision of the WEEE Directive as part of the EU’s Circular Economy Act, which is expected to be presented in 2026.
The evaluation shows that the Directive has had positive effects, but also that the current framework is not sufficient if the EU is to reach its circular economy targets.
The European Commission’s evaluation highlights five significant areas where the current Directive is not sufficient to support a circular economy in practice:
In 2022, only Bulgaria, Latvia and Slovakia met the EU collection target of 65% measured against the average amount of electronics placed on the market in the three preceding years.
Almost all other Member States are lagging behind.
There are many reasons for this:
Economic barriers: Consumers and companies lack incentives to hand in used electronics.
Illegal trade: Large volumes of electronics are shipped out of the EU without proper registration.
Lack of infrastructure: Not all countries have collection systems that make it easy for citizens.
Low awareness: Many consumers do not know that electronics must be handed in separately.
Different methods and interpretations: Countries calculate collected volumes differently, which distorts the overall picture.
As a result, almost half of all WEEE never enters the formal collection and treatment systems.
Remember to hand in your used electronics at your local recycling centre as soon as you have finished with them. Fast hand-in ensures that old electronics can do the most good.
Although progress has been made, there are major differences in treatment quality across the EU.
Only around 23% of recycling facilities comply with high-quality standards. This means that valuable materials are not recovered at the scale they could be, and that environmentally harmful components are not always handled optimally.
If the EU wants to ensure both high recycling rates and strong markets for secondary raw materials, mandatory and harmonised treatment standards are needed.
The low level of collection across EU countries means that large volumes of valuable materials are lost – including copper, rare earth elements, gallium, germanium and tungsten.
These raw materials are essential for both green and digital technology, and the low collection rate makes the EU even more dependent on imports.
The current recycling targets focus primarily on quantity rather than quality.
This means that there are not enough incentives to extract and recover critical materials, even though they are found in many electronic products in small but important quantities.
The current Directive does not sufficiently cover new waste streams with a high content of critical raw materials.
One example is wind turbines and other components from renewable energy and digital infrastructure, which will reach the end of their life cycle in the coming decades.
When these products are scrapped, they will contain large volumes of valuable materials, but without clear regulation, the EU risks missing the opportunity to recycle them.
If the EU wants to strengthen its raw material security, future targets must focus on the actual recovery of critical materials – not only weight-based recycling figures.
That is why future WEEE legislation needs to be expanded to also cover “green” and digital equipment, so the value can be retained in the economy.
The evaluation shows that extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes are fragmented and implemented differently across the EU.
This means that producers face different requirements depending on which country they sell in.
Online sales are a particular problem: enforcement is weak, and many operators sell electronics in the EU without complying with producer responsibility. This creates unfair competition, free-riders and undermines the producers that actually follow the rules.
Harmonisation and effective enforcement are necessary if EPR is to be a real tool for circularity in the EU.
The evaluation underlines that without better collection, stronger treatment standards and more robust market development for secondary materials, the EU will miss out on enormous volumes of valuable resources.
The upcoming Circular Economy Act is a crucial and timely opportunity to accelerate Europe’s transition to a clean, competitive and resource-efficient economy.
WEEE Forum, of which Elretur is a member, has reviewed the evaluation together with nine other leading industry organisations and is offering its recommendations for the work ahead.
In addition to WEEE Forum, the group consists of APPLiA, CCIA, CECAPI, DIGITALEUROPE, EPTA, Eurovent, LightingEurope, Orgalim and Toy Industries of Europe. Together, they represent the broad producer sector for electrical and electronic equipment.
First and foremost, the group welcomes the focus on key drivers of circularity, including:
facilitating the free movement of secondary raw materials and circular products,
improving access to high-quality recyclates,
reducing raw material costs for sustainable production,
simplifying rules for e-waste,
establishing clear end-of-waste criteria,
and enabling innovative circular business models.
At the same time, the 10 organisations point to six key challenges that must be addressed if the green policy ambitions are to be realised:
Regulatory challenges and the need for a level playing field in the circular economy
Fragmented markets
Barriers to a stable and competitive supply of secondary raw materials
Inconsistent quality of recyclates
Suboptimal collection targets for WEEE
Lack of effective enforcement
Read the European Commission’s press release here.
Read the industry statement on the evaluation here.
At Elretur, we follow developments closely and make sure to keep you and our other member companies updated with relevant information and guidance.
This allows you to prepare your company as well as possible and avoid unnecessary surprises.
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