EMUCA's commitment to an adequate disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) as well as batteries and accumulators

For a long time, EMUCA has been committed to the environment and strives to reduce the impact of all its activities to a minimum. In this way, it contributes to sustainable development, to which it has been committed from the start.

Waste electrical and electronic equipment, as well as batteries and accumulators, create an important environmental problem in our time, due to the high volume of waste and in many cases, the hazardous nature of the same.

It is essential to comply with the established regulations for managing this waste and to implicate all agents involved in the value chain to guarantee its selective collection and specific treatment. Only in this way we will be able to guarantee the adequate protection and health of the environment against abandonment or inadequate management of this waste, and at the same time, to prepare the materials for their re-use or recycling, returning recovered materials or equipment to the economic cycle and attaining the objective of a circular economy.

Current regulations establish a series of annual collection objectives for this waste, both at the national and community levels, that can only be attained if there is enough information available about the responsibilities of each agent and the channels made available to users to properly dispose of this waste.

Thus, Emuca describes below the main responsibilities established by current regulations, especially those of special interest to our clients and users of our products.

Finally, we describe how this regulation affects EMUCA, and how our company complies with all legal requirements.

Royal Decree 106/2008, of 1 February, of batteries and accumulators and the management of their waste added to our Regulations Directive 2006/66/CE of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 6 September 2006, related to batteries and accumulators and battery and accumulator waste, and expanded, as well, the regulations established by Law 10/1998 of Waste and Contaminated Soils.

This regulation has been modified by Royal Decree 710/2015, of 24 July, which adds to the national regulation Directive 2013/56/UE, of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 20 November 2013, which modifies Directive 2006/66/CE and adapts regulations to Law 22/2011 of Waste and Contaminated Soils.

This regulation applies to all types of batteries and cells, both portable and also industrial and automotive.

For an adequate management of this waste, the established scheme is articulated along the following fundamental lines:

• The agents responsible for the initial market dissemination of these products (manufacturers, importers, etc.) are considered "producers", must register in a special section of the Integrated Industrial Registrar and declare how many batteries and cell they launch to market on a quarterly manner.

• Producers must establish and finance systems for the selective collection of this waste separately from the rest of the domestic waste, and guaranteeing its specific management through authorised agents. All this must be done free of charge for the end user, and with the aim of complying with the collection objectives established by the European Directive and national regulations.

• End users will have a network of public collection points facilitated by the Expanded Collective Producer Responsibility Systems (previously known as Integrated Management Systems), through which producers comply with their management and financing responsibilities.

• In any case, at the time of supplying portable batteries or accumulators, the distributors of these products are forced to accept, with no charge for the owner or end user, the return of used portable batteries and accumulators. If these distributors are part of a collection network, the user will be able to dispose of the waste for free without the need to acquire a new one.

All batteries, cells and accumulators are stamped with the crossed out container symbol, which reminds users of the need to dispose of them separately from the rest of domestic waste, in specific containers.

When the cells or batteries are embedded in electrical or electronic equipment, the end user, before disposing of the equipment, must first extract the cells or batteries (provided it can be done without the intervention of a qualified professional) and place each type of waste in its specific container. The equipment manual should contain information about the type of cells or batteries included, and instructions for their extraction.

Royal Decree 110/2015, of 20 February, about waste electrical and electronic equipment, adds to the Spanish legal structure Directive 2012/19/UE, of the European Parliament and of the Council, de 4 July; it includes the novelties of Law 22/2011, of 28 July; and repeals the previous Royal Decree 208/2005, of electrical and electronic equipment and the management of their waste.

This regulation imposes, primarily to the producers of this equipment (the agents responsible for their initial distribution to the Spanish market), the obligation of organising WEEE and its financing, together with other responsibilities they will need to fulfil through the authorised Expanded Collective Producer Responsibility Systems. Annually, the competent ministry establishes the minimum collection objectives for each System and category.

The attainment of these objectives demands, from the rest of the agents involved (local entities, managers and end users), their collaboration and compliance with the responsibilities that this regulation imposes on each party.

EMUCA informs all its clients that with the coming into force of Royal Decree 110/2015, of 20 February, of waste electrical and electronic equipment, the following main responsibilities are established for the collection of WEEE from the distributors' side:

• Distributors who offer both store and internet sales of electrical and electronic equipment (home appliances, IT equipment, television sets, mobile phones,...) must collect old equipment for free, in the substitution of the new devices (1 for 1), even when the delivery of the device is in the home.

• In cases where WEEE is not handed over at the time of purchase of the new device, the distributor must notify the buyer, in writing, of the maximum term for its delivery, which cannot be less than 30 calendar days.

• The seller will design its own scheme for free pick-up for the buyer, at the home address or delivery location, and will indicate it clearly on its website.

• If the store has a minimum surface of 400 m2, or if the area reserved for selling the equipment is equivalent of larger, it will also facilitate the free collection of very small WEEE (no dimensions exceeding 25 cm), with no obligation to purchase an equivalent device.

The domestic distributors of EEEs to end users are the ones who must ensure the selective collection to their clients. WEEE collected by the distributing agent must be managed appropriately. For this purpose, the distributor may choose to organise management directly through authorised agents, or to request collection and management from an Expanded Collective Producer Responsibility System.

More inforamtion about these systems can be found on the website of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, and in the Ministry of Ecological Transition (Environment).

All EEEs subject to this regulation are tagged with the crossed out container symbol, which signals end users to dispose of the WEEE selectively, separate from the rest of their domestic waste, by dropping them in the specific containers located at clean spots, authorised agents, distributors or the collection network of the Expanded Collective Producer Responsibility System.

EMUCA sells in the Spanish market electrical and electronic equipment and complies with the responsibility of guaranteeing the organisation and management of the corresponding waste according to the dispositions of Royal Decree 110/2015, of 20 February, of waste electrical and electronic equipment. To this end:

• It is registered as a EEE producer in the special section of producers of electrical and electronic equipment of the Integrated Industrial Registrar (RII-AEE) with number 6817.

• It complies, collectively, with its management and financial obligations through the ECOTIC Foundation, an Expanded Collective Producer Responsibility System authorised in all the national territory.

EMUCA only sells its products B2B, never to the end user. Therefore, it is not responsible for the collection of domestic waste due to its online activity. The responsibility for collecting the WEEE in the home address or delivery point, free of charge for the end user when acquiring a new device, corresponds to the distributor selling these products, and the end users must check this information in their websites.

However, we remind all users about the importance of a differentiated management of this type of waste, and to dispose of them in the appropriate containers. Apart from the distributors' collection channels, the WEEE can be disposed of in a clean collection point. The following link can help locate the WEEE selective collection points in all of Spain and managed by the ECOTICFoundation.

Likewise, EMUCA supplies the local market with products that include cells, accumulators or batteries, and respects and complies with all the demands of Royal Decree 106/2008, of 1 February, of batteries and accumulators and the environmental management of their waste, following the obligations imposed on producers by this regulation.

To this end:

• It is registered as a producer of cells and batteries in the special section of producers of cells and batteries of the Integrated Industrial Registrar (RII-PyA) with number 1813.

• It complies, collectively, with its management and financial obligations through the ECOPILAS Foundation, an Expanded Collective Producer Responsibility System authorised in all the national territory.

EMUCA does not distribute cells, accumulators or batteries and is not responsible for accepting returns of their waste. If you are the end user of an EMUCA product that contains batteries or accumulators, you must check the selective collection service offered by the distributor (in their online sales website) and proceed to extract the cells or batteries according to user instructions, provided this can be done without assistance from a qualified professional. Then, you must dispose of the cell, battery or accumulator waste in the specific containers.

Apart from the distributors' collection systems, as an end user, you can also visit the clean selective collection points.

You can also visit the free collection centres established by ECOPILAS (EMUCA's authorised system).