Four manufacturing giants joined forces Monday to comply with a new European Union law on recycling appliances and electrical goods.
Electrolux AB, Hewlett-Packard Co., Sony Corp. and Gillette Company’s Braun GmbH will work together to draw up guidelines and then to contract together actual recycling. The four companies account for 14 percent of all consumer goods sold in the E.U.
"Our aim is to identify high-quality recycling services on the best terms from the European market to minimize the costs passed onto consumers," Hans Korfmacher, European representative of corporate environmental affairs for Braun, says.
According to a new E.U. law, set to be formally adopted by the European Parliament Dec. 18, manufacturers become responsible for recycling products - from refrigerators to video games - starting in September, 2005.
Huge sums of money are involved. Cleaning up equipment already in use will cost EUR40 billion, while disposing of future equipment will cost an annual EUR 7.5 billion, according to Orgalime, a group representing European appliance makers and electronic equipment makers. Manufacturers also will have to invest EUR 15 billion to pay for more environmentally friendly production techniques, Orgalime says.
The commission estimates that old appliances account for some 6 million metric tons of waste in Europe, most of which currently goes into landfills. It hopes that three quarters of ovens, toasters and washing machines now will be recycled.
But consumers will end up paying more. Electrolux's Viktor Sundberg says the new rules could add EUR20 to the cost of a new washing machine.
The four companies in today's agreement say they are open to other manufacturers joining them. They hope to stimulate cross-border competition in European waste management services. At present, national operators dominate.
But the open question remains of whether they can cooperate without breaking antitrust rules. The four have informed the European Union Commission of their intentions. - Dow Jones Newswires