Nine Waste Law (Law 209/2016), which will enter into force in just a few months (23.12.2017), introduces the mandatory separate collection of certain categories of waste for producers. Accordingly, in accordance with Law no. 209, all natural and legal persons (product manufacturer) who professionally design, produce, process, treat, sell and/or import electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators, vehicles, oils and packaging , are subject to the extended producer responsibility regime.
Art. 12 (2) "Extended producer responsibility represents the totality of obligations imposed on producers, either individually or collectively, for the recovery and recovery or recycling of end-of-life products. The activities for the application of the extended responsibility of the producer aim at the acceptance measures of the returned products and the waste that remains after the use of the respective products, as well as the subsequent management of the waste and the financial insurance for these activities".
The categories of electrical and electronic equipment that are subject to article 50 of Law no. 209 on waste are:
- Large household appliances
- Small household appliances
- IT and telecommunications equipment
- Consumer equipment
- Lighting equipment
- Electric and electronic tools (except large fixed industrial tools)
- Toys, sports and leisure equipment
- Medical devices (except implanted and infected products)
- Surveillance and control tools
- Automatic dispensers
Legal Obligations of Manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment in accordance with the provisions of the law are:
- to ensure the labeling and marking of the products and the use of symbols indicating that the product is the subject of a separate collection, its disposal being prohibited;
- to ensure the organization and functioning of individual or collective waste management systems from electrical and electronic equipment;
- to register in SIA MD (Automated Information System "Waste Management"), by submitting a list of necessary documents to the registrar, designated by the owner of the register formed in SIA MD;
- to ensure the record, starting with the entry into force of this law, of the products being made available on the market for a period of 5 years, reporting annually to the regulatory authority the amount of products made available on the market in the case of honoring the extended responsibility of the manufacturer in individually. Upon presentation of proof of membership of a collective scheme, this responsibility will be honored by a collective scheme;
- to present proof of an individual system or to certify membership of a collective system of collection, treatment, recovery or disposal of products that have become waste;
- to carry out educational and information/awareness programs regarding the collection and treatment of products that have become waste;
- to ensure, individually or through collective systems, the achievement of the collection and recycling targets of electrical and electronic equipment products that have become waste, established by the Government.
Manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment, subject to extended producer responsibility regulations and who are willing to honor their mode individual obligations, must present to the regulatory authority proof of the existence of individual systems for free collection and separate collection, treatment, recovery or disposal of used electrical and electronic equipment from consumers, as well as the development of material recovery schemes for waste electrical and electronic equipment.
If, the producers decide to honor their in collectively obligations by joining a collective system that holds an environmental authorization according to art. 25 of the Law, then the individual responsibility will be subsidiary to the responsibility of the collective system, they being responsible for the separate collection, ensuring the targets of recycling, capitalization and disposal in safe conditions for the environment of used electrical and electronic equipment from consumers and which have become waste, (according to art. 12, paragraph 8).
According to art. 12 (9), the collective systems that act on behalf of electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers are obliged to set up a commission, based on the financial guarantees presented by the manufacturers, to cover the sums necessary to finance the collection, treatment, recovery and disposal operations non-polluting waste of electrical and electronic equipment.
Legal Obligations of Distributors of electrical and electronic equipment in accordance with the provisions of the law are:
- to register in the List of manufacturers of products subject to the regulations of extended producer responsibility, held by the regulatory authority;
- to ensure, starting with the date of entry into force of the Law, the record of placing products on the market for a period of 5 previous years and to report annually to the regulatory authority the amount of products made available on the market.
Legal obligations of the Operator treatment station/material recovery scheme for electrical and electronic equipment waste, authorized by the competent authorities specified in art. 24 are:
- to ensure that electrical and electronic equipment waste subject to treatment that can be recovered or recycled will not be disposed of;
- to ensure the achievement of the minimum targets for the recovery and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment waste;
- to report, quarterly, to electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers the performance results in reaching the targets for the collection and treatment of electrical and electronic equipment waste established by the Government;
- to ensure that the final materials obtained after the disassembly of used electrical and electronic equipment will not contain components with dangerous characteristics;
- to comply with the obligations of the owner of waste and of the producer of waste, associated with his activity, established by this law.
For the attention of electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers who decide to collectively honor their obligations by joining a collective system that holds environmental authorization, We present the non-profit Association "Moldrec", which has been operating since 2013 based on Environmental Authorization No. 60/2015 and License No. 048859. Moldrec, through the "Recycling Guard" project, aims to create an integrated system with recycling solutions for companies and citizens. The basic activities are: collection of all types of waste; creation and development of waste collection points; waste processing services; disassembly and waste sorting; recycling of all types of waste at the first ECO factory in Moldova.
The purpose of the Association is to inform, through the Magazine, all producers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), batteries and accumulators, vehicles, oils and packaging, subject to the regime of extended producer responsibility, about their role in the management of waste generated from the products marketed.