Hewlett-Packard has published data showing the costs of implementing the WEEE directive in a sample of European countries, ten months after the legislation was implemented.
According to the company, the research indicates that following the WEEE implementation, recycling costs in relation to the end product price for consumers are lower than initially feared.
The lowest costs were seen in those countries where there is a more competitive environment for electronics recycling providers. For example, Austria, Germany and Spain where market competition is strong recycling costs are just a few euro cents per product.
Recently calculations point to a cost of around 7 euro cents in Germany, 20 euro cents in Spain and 39 euro cents in Austria for every HP Notebook PC sold.
On the other hand, in Belgium, Switzerland and Ireland, where there are no competitive markets, the costs are higher.
“We are pleasantly surprised by how low costs actually are in the competitive environment,” said Klaus Hieronymi, European director for environmental business management organization at HP.