01 September 2022
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Still a lot of work to be done for Stichting OPEN
Stichting OPEN recently published its 2021 monitoring report. In this report, they indicate how much e-waste has been collected compared to the number of electronics sold. This shows that less was collected in 2021 than in 2020: from 58% in 2020 to 47% in 2021.
Legal requirement of 65%
In 2016, the government stated that at least 45% of electronics sold must be collected as e-waste and processed appropriately. In 2019, the government tightened this percentage to 65%.
Collection needs to be improved
In absolute numbers, 15 million kilos less was collected than in the previous year, while sales of electronics in the Netherlands continues to grow. That makes the gap between the 65% target and the actual percentage of electronics collected a large one. When the Universal Binding Declaration (UBD) was granted, Stichting OPEN indicated that it will comply with the legal requirement to collect and process sufficient e-waste as of March 2023.
Action plans 65%
At the start of the UBD, Stichting OPEN introduced plans for 15 campaigns to collect more in the short term. In the 2021 monitoring report, Stichting OPEN indicates that these campaigns are now ready and will be rolled out in 2022.
Financial scope
The report further shows that sufficient funds are available for the campaigns. In 2021, thanks to the increased revenues from recovered raw materials, no less than EUR 27 million remained. In any case, this provides the financial scope to deploy additional resources to promote the collection of e-waste.
Plans and advice for improved collection
In the action plan, Stichting OPEN focuses in particular on improved registration of e-waste collected by existing parties. For example, the metal industry is granted a premium for proper processing. For now, it’s not initiating any new collection itself. We are closely monitoring the roll-out and effects of this approach. To date, the board of Stichting OPEN has rejected all our plans and advice for a different method of collection. Weee Netherlands therefore doesn’t yet play an active role in increasing collection rates in 2022.
Work to be done
The 2021 monitoring report shows all the more that more needs to be done than business as usual.
2022 will be and is an exciting year for Stichting OPEN.
