European Companies Set Up Electronics Recycling Group

Thirteen makers of household electrical goods have set up a joint company to recycle materials from their products once they are discarded.

The company will set up contracts with recycling businesses throughout Europe to take in a wide range of material. The costs of running the company will be met by its members, who are expected to pass on at least some of the costs to retailers and consumers.

The creation of the Recycling Electrical Producers' Industry Consortium is in response to the EU’s directive mandating companies take a more active stance on recycling electrical material. The EU regulation that takes effect in August 2005. The group hopes to start operations by this spring.

The consortium has been formed following discussions orchestrated by Amdea, a trade association for the white goods industry.

Peter Carver, Amdea's director-general, said the new company would aim to recycle 1.2m metric tons of electrical products a year. He was unable to say what percentage this was of the electrical products waste stream as a whole.

"We are still working on the components to the scheme but we feel we have a company here that can do a brilliant job in recycling, at a cost that is affordable," Carver said.

He hoped other businesses - or perhaps other consortia of manufacturers - would set up similar recycling operations. "We welcome competition because this will bring costs down," he said.

The consortium's founders are Alba; B&W Loudspeakers; BSH Home Appliances; Glen Dimplex; Hoover Candy; In-Sink-Erator; Kohler Mira; Merloni Elettrodomestici UK; Numatic; Philips; SMEG; and Whirlpool. Each of the groups committed Pounds 30,000 to get the company started.

A final draft of the Memorandum and Articles of Association for a member-based, company will be put before a meeting on Jan. 26. The consortium will be open to producers from the domestic appliance, consumer electronics and small appliance sectors. As defined by the Directive, these will include import agents and some retailers, as well as manufacturers.

The electrical equipment waste directive has sparked controversy because of its insistence that companies do more to take responsibility for their products after they have been thrown away.