Symposium on Sound Management and Economic Competitiveness in the field of WEEE - Sharing European and Japanese experiences -

Ministry of the Environment held "Symposium on Sound Management and Economic Competitiveness in the field of WEEE - sharing European and Japanese experiences -" at Plaza F in Tokyo on November 12th, 2015.

Under the aspiration of "Resource Efficiency" (RE) and "Circular Economy" (CE), various types of efforts to decouple economic growth from its negative impacts on natural resources and environment are being taken in the world. Among them, waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) has been one of the key agenda for more than decades.

In the European Union (EU), the original WEEE Directive entered into force in 2003 and was recasted in 2012 in order to create and strengthen take-back and treatment systems for WEEE. As for the treatment system, a series of European Standards (ENs) for collection, logistics, and treatment requirements for WEEE are under development.

In Japan, Home Appliance Recycling Law entered into force in 1999 and subsequently Promotion of Recycling of Small Domestic Appliance Law entered into force in 2014 in order to promote the recycling of small domestic appliances. Although sound management and recycling business in the field of WEEE have been developed and sophisticated according to those Laws, systematic problems such as illegal shipments of WEEE to third countries and traceability starting from collection, to logistics, to final treatment of WEEE remain unsolved.

This symposium aims to share experiences among Japan and Europe and introduce good practices and specific measures taken in Europe, such as development of EN standards to public audiences. Participants will share opinions on sound management and economic competitiveness in Europe and Japan.

Program (Program & Profile of Presenters) [PDF 519KB]

Session 1

"The EU WEEE Directive"

Thorsten Brunzema ( WEEE expert (former EC official)) [PDF 1,736KB]

Session 2

"German government policy of Resource efficiency (Circular Economy) and recent topics focusing on WEEE in Germany"

Regina Kohlmeyer (Federal Environment Agency, Germany) [PDF 1,577KB]

Session 3

"A series of European Standards (ENs) for collection, logistics and treatment requirements for WEEE"

Andrea Nam, CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) [PDF 2,398KB]

Session 4

"Roles of Recyclers and practices of European Standards (ENs) under the framework of WEEE Directive"

Norbert Zonneveld, Executive Secretary of European Electronics Recycling Association (EERA) [PDF 4,054KB]

Session 5

"Recycling Scheme of a WEEE in Japan"

Yuzo Yagai, Deputy Director, Office of Sound Material-Cycle Society and Office of Recycling Promotion, Waste Management and Recycling Department, Ministry of the Environment [PDF 3,815KB]

Hideyuki Umeda, Deputy Director, Recycling Promotion Division, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry [PDF 952KB]

Panel Discussion　[PDF 570KB]

Facilitator: Yoshiaki (Yoshi) Ichikawa, Hitachi Ltd.
Panelists: Thorsten Brunzema, Regina Kohlmeyer, Andrea Nam, Norbert Zonneveld, Yuzo Yagai, Katsumi Fujisaki(Strategic Planning Manager, Corporate Environmental Sustainability Group, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation).