NL1043330B1

NL1043330B1 - Method for organizing, structuring and stimulating recycling of consumer goods

Info

Publication number: NL1043330B1
Application number: NL1043330A
Authority: NL
Inventors: Sekhuis Reint
Original assignee: Weee Nederland B V
Priority date: 2019-07-10
Filing date: 2019-07-10
Publication date: 2021-02-02

Abstract

A method for organizing, structuring and/or stimulating collection and recycling of consumer goods, i.e. collection and recycling of large home appliances, such as white goods. A new appliance is labeled with an Environmental Contribution label with a value of Environmental Contribution, which at least consists of a return premium for a similar waste appliance. The sales price of the new appliance is visibly specified with the return premium. A consumer buys the new appliance at a retailer for a price including the return premium, and the retailer provides a tag to the person, said tag comprising a unique identifier representing a monetary value associated to a handing in of a similar old appliance at a collection center for waste processing. The consumer may also hand in a discarded appliance at a collection center and receive a tag from the collection center, without first buying a new appliance.

Description

METHOD FOR ORGANIZING, STRUCTURING AND STIMULATING RECYCLING OF CONSUMER GOODS

TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to a method for organizing, structuring and/or stimulating collection and recycling of consumer goods. More particular the invention relates to collection and recycling of large home appliances, such as white goods.

BACKGROUND In Europe and in many countries in and outside of Europe regulations require to collect waste equipment and materials. This is framed within the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility for a variety of consumer goods. An existing example is the so-called Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, which requires manufacturers and importers that at least 65% of the average weight of waste electrical and electronic equipment of the last three years is collected and processed on behalf of the manufacturers and importers. The collected e-waste must preferably be processed and registered in accordance with the so-called WEEELABEX Standard.

Hereafter, waste electrical and electronic equipment is referred to as WEEE. It is foreseen that the Waste Framework Directive further entices countries to implement Producer Responsibility legislation also on other consumer goods, like mattresses and furniture.

The WEEE directive — but also the Waste framework directive - is driven by two major concerns: environmental protection and resource protection.

Environmental protection. In cooling appliances, such as refrigerators and air- conditioners (hereafter referred to as “cooling appliances”), very potent greenhouse gases such as CFCs and HFCs have been replaced by natural gases such as Pentane. Nevertheless, 30 to 40% of the discarded cooling appliances are still filled with the greenhouse gases. Incorrect processing of these appliances may lead to release of these gases into the atmosphere.

In the Netherlands, 70% of the cooling appliances is currently collected and processed correctly. When professional cooling is included in this figure, this percentage is 62%. The remaining equipment is usually collected anyway, but not processed and registered correctly. It is likely that 130,000 devices containing CFCs or HFCs in the Netherlands each year disappear through metal mix streams and end up in metal shredders, while the greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere. These emissions have a greenhouse equivalent of approximately 330 Kton CO2 per year, or 0.17% of the total Dutch emissions.

Next to greenhouse gasses, in all large home appliances other hazardous substances, like cadmium, mercury, brome and PCBs, were used in the past which need to be processed correctly.

It is an undesirable situation that on the one hand so many devices are processed incorrectly, while on the other hand there is a collection system set up by manufacturers and importers that can guarantee 100% appropriate processing. Financial gain and ignorance are the main reasons for the illegal processing of cooling appliances and this system failure. Enforcement and voluntary agreements with parties involved have had 16 insufficient effect to date.

Resource protection. There are two types of reuse.

Material recycling The reuse of metals is common nowadays. Recycling of plastics from WEEE is, however, difficult. Lack of confidence in applicable recyclate, the small price difference between recyclate and "virgin", and a still unstable supply cause a lagging use of plastic recyclates in products. The same can be said about certain materials used in furniture and matrasses for which no common re-use market exists as of yet. More collection means that more raw materials can be reused and fewer raw materials have to be used, which saves on energy and therefore CO2 emission.

Product reuse Several Dutch and European directives and plans aim at improving infrastructure for repairing and extending of product life. This infrastructure is currently very fragmented between the private sector and semi-voluntary recycling sector and repair cafés. Due to lack of control over the waste product by the producer of the product, the role of the producer in this area has been limited to repair work during the warranty and usage period.

The reuse and repair infrastructure is currently very fragmented and inefficient. Parties consist of small regional private companies and thrift stores; the current result is far from optimal. The role of the manufacturer is currently minimal. For all of the above reasons, a change in the system is needed.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION The object of the invention is to provide a waste management structure which increases the correct collection and processing percentage of (large) consumer goods, i.e. household appliances as close as possible to 100%. This counteracts greenhouse gas emissions and other negative consequences for the climate. A further object of the invention is to achieve improved material reuse, product reuse, registration and innovation. Yet a further object of the invented invention is to provide a waste management structure which creates more control over the discarded appliances and improve the channels for reusing of appliances. The ultimate objective is to extend the lifespan of suitable appliances (or parts thereof) to a high quality and to give it a second life in the appropriate market segment. These and other objects are realized by the following clauses.

1. A method for organizing, structuring and/or stimulating recycling of one or more appliances for domestic use, characterized in that a new appliance of the one or more appliances is labeled with an Environmental Contribution label, the label comprising one or more elements indicating a quantified aspect of Environmental Contribution, the one or more elements comprise a return premium for a similar waste appliance.

2. The method according to clause 1, characterized in that the method comprises that the sales price of the new appliance is visibly specified with the return premium as part of the Environmental Contribution.

3. The method according to any one of the preceding clauses, characterized in that the one or more elements further comprise any one of the group comprising: - implementation costs of the return premium; - implementation costs of the chain partners; - contribution to circular stimulation program; - sorting costs for reuse and processing; - direct operational costs;

- internalized part of the contribution.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding clauses, characterized in that the method comprises that sales price of the new appliance is visibly specified with the one or more of the elements as part of the Environmental Contribution.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding clauses, characterized in that the method comprise the steps of: - a consumer buying the new appliance at a retailer for a price including the return premium; - the retailer providing a tag to the person, said tag comprising a unique identifier representing a monetary value associated to a handing in of a similar old appliance at a collection center for waste processing.

6. The method according to clause 5, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of the retailer transferring at least part of the return premium that is paid by the consumer to a fund of a third party.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding clauses, characterized in that the method further comprises the steps of: - collecting the old appliance from the consumer when delivering the new appliance; - checking the tag and registering the collection of the old appliance and the identifier.

8. The method according to any one of the clauses 1-4, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of: - a consumer handing in an old appliance at a collection center, such as a municipal collection center; - the collection center providing a tag to the consumer representing a monetary value associated to the handing in of the old appliance at the collection center, said monetary value controlled by a fund of a third party.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding clauses, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of the third party transferring at least a part of the monetary value from the fund to the consumer in dependence of a phase in the waste processing of the handed in old appliance.

10. The method according to any one of the clauses 5-9, characterized in that the tag enables identifying the phase of the waste processing by one or more collecting- and registration centers arranged for reading the tag when processing and registering the old appliance.

11. The method according to clause 9 or 10, characterized in that the method comprises that information of a phase in the processing and registration of the waste 5 appliance is provided to a central hub and made available to the consumer through a website or a software application.

12. A system for organizing, structuring and/or stimulating recycling of an appliance, characterized in that the appliance comprises an Environmental Contribution label which is arranged for indicating one or more elements indicating a quantified aspect of Environmental Contribution.

13. The system according to clause 12, characterized in that a tag is provided comprising a monetary value associated to a handing in of a similar old appliance at a collection center for waste processing.

14. The system according to clause 13, characterized in that the tag comprises a sticker arranged for being attached to the old appliance before or when entering the waste processing.

15. The system according to clause 13 or 14, characterized in that the tag comprises a smart tag such as a Radio-Frequency Indication tag or Barcoded tag, arranged for being read by the centers.

16. The system according to any one of the clauses 13-15, characterized in that the system comprises a collection center and one or more processing- and registration centers arranged for processing and registering of the tag.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The figures show views of embodiments in accordance with the present invention. FIGURE 1 shows a schematic overview of an embodiment of the invention with a visualization of relations between elements and institutions involved in the method and/or the system of the invention and the flow of an appliance and recycled material.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is now described by the following aspects and embodiments, with reference to figure 1.

Although emphasis is made on cooling appliances, such as refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners, the invented method is also applicable on other goods, in particular white goods, like washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, (combi)ovens and hotplates. The same method can be used for organizing, structuring and/or stimulating collection and recycling of other consumer goods, like matrasses and furniture.

Hereafter, the term ‘appliance’ is used to indicate a (large) consumer good.

The new waste management structure consists of one existing- and four additional elements fitting within existing structures: (i) A return premium for specific appliances; (if) An incentive program to improve the circularity of the chain; (iii) Operational implementation frameworks and incentive premiums for chain players; (iv) More direct communication with the consumer; (v) Alignment with existing waste management structure and infrastructure of producer collectives, and make use of the — often by law required - collection centers at municipalities and retail.

(i) Return premium The introduction of a (substantial) return premium should encourage consumers to hand in appliances, like refrigerators and washing machines, in the correct manner. Far too often, appliances are discarded due to the material value, among other things, through the scrap iron sector and processed incorrectly. That is undesirable. The aim is to run all discarded appliances through the existing infrastructure, i.e. collection centers at municipalities and retail.

To claim the return premium, an appliance is tagged at the designated collection centers upon disposal with a unique tag. This unique tag is paired to an Environmental Contribution Label (ECL), which the consumer receives when he buys a new appliance.

The consumer needs to personalize his ECL on a specific website, by adding his contact data and financial details. As a second option an ECL can also be acquired at the municipal collation center if no new appliance is bought. Smart technology will enable the consumer to track the tagged appliance within the take-back chain (track-

and-trace). This transparent information provision provides insight into the method of processing and also shows the importance of correct processing. It is also checked in this way whether the appliance goes through the designated chain. The consumer receives his return premium on the basis of the appliance being handed over and processed correctly.

This way, a collection percentage close to 100% is achievable. The environmental objectives from the WEEE Directive and other Directives/Regulations can thus be achieved.

(ii) Circularity The circularity stimulation program serves the purpose of creating a (more) circular chain. It will focus on establishing structural incentives to optimize the life cycle of the appliance. The program fills in gaps currently not filled by normal market forces. The following sub-programs will support this: - a program to stimulate the use of plastic recyclate; - a program to facilitate the reuse of appliances; - a program to extend the life of appliances; - aresearch program into the possible reuse of components.

The return program will ensure a stable and secure flow of plastic recyclate that is released from the collection chain. From the recyclate, a granulate of stable quality that meets the production requirements is produced. The granulate is offered with a stimulation premium (i.e. discount) to the market to eliminate financial barriers for manufacturers.

The reuse program focuses (in the first instance) on professionalizing the reuse market for appliances. The return program makes it possible to make a good selection of potentially reusable appliances. Practical knowledge is combined with specific professional knowledge from the manufacturer, supported by training programs from technical educational institutions. The network of resale shops will support the sales of the appliances and jointly a recognizable quality label for secondhand appliances will be introduced. Collaboration with existing initiatives such as repair cafés helps identify the bottlenecks, such as spare parts availability and infrastructure.

(ii) Implementation frameworks and incentive premiums To implement the Return Premium program (new) agreements with retail and municipalities need to be made, in which will be specified what needs to be done with collected appliances (tagging) and what needs to be communicated with the consumer.

Also sorting centers and recyclers need to be instructed on how to handle tagged appliances.

Parties can be (partially) remunerated for their efforts if needed. (iv) More direct communication Contact about the return premium results in a much clearer line of communication between the producer and the consumer.

The return claim website and the "track-and- trace" module of the Environmental Contribution Label (ECL) contact the consumer much more direct.

Additional awareness campaigns can thus be better targeted.

The channels may also be used to send other related messages, for example about the hand-in methods for small devices or reuse programs. (v) Existing infrastructure From the moment of delivery to the municipality or retailer, the producer collectives (or other parties appointed by producers) take care of the further chain.

The collectives are thereby bound by the frameworks and agreements made with the chain parties from the return program (see iii). The producer collective makes use of the existing infrastructure via municipal collection centers, stores, sorting centers and recyclers.

This infrastructure is expanded with the reuse centers (see program ii) For the financing of the waste management structure, a visible Environmental Contribution per device is introduced on specific appliances.

This Environmental Contribution is visibly displayed on the invoice to the consumer (visible fee). This Environmental Contribution consists of some or all of the following components, with amounts in Euros which express the individual contributions per aspect.

The given amounts mentioned hereafter are exemplary indicative amounts, can differ per appliance and are due to change after evaluation, or because of indexation and/or inflation.

The invention proposes to express the Environmental Contribution as absolute amounts in Euros, independent of the market price or production costs of the products themselves.

Other calculation methods may be applied as well.

For example, the amounts may be calculated in dependence (e.g. as a percentage) of production costs, and/or market price, or partially fixed and partially related to the costs or price.

Further differentiations per product category may also be implemented, and so forth.

Individual Environmental Contribution may be identified, of which some or all may be incorporated in an Environmental Contribution Label (hereafter abbreviated as ECL), which is made visible on the appliance and/or appliance information and/or invoice at the time of sale.

The process of attributing an amount to the Environmental Contribution is referred to as Environmental Contribution labelling, or EC labeling.

As an example, the following individual contributions are EC labeled as follows: a) The Return premium € 25 b) Implementation costs of the return premium € 2 c) Implementation costs of the chain partners € 6 d) Contribution to circular stimulation program € 4 e) Sorting costs for reuse and processing € 5 f) Direct operational costs € 13 g) Discount depending on circularity of appliance -/-€5 Total Environmental Contribution per device € 50 A discount allows price differentiation, whereby more environmentally friendly appliances have an advantage over less environmentally friendly appliances.

In practice, less environmentally friendly producers need to contribute additionally to the 16 producer collectives to make up for the discount given.

The Environmental Contribution is determined differently per type of appliance, for example type of refrigerators: - Normal model: € 50 - Table model € 40 - American model € 60 - A +++ and / or circular devices: - / - €5 to -/- € 10 compared to the normal contribution On average, this means an Environmental Contribution of € 45. To promote the sale of energy-friendly and circular appliances, a discount on the Environmental Contribution is applied for this type of appliance.

Circular appliances are appliances in which at least 10% recycled and granulated plastic (hereafter referred to as ‘re-granulate”) has been used.

This tariff differentiation works both ways: the consumer is rewarded for a sustainable choice and the producer is rewarded for the production of more circular products.

Below, the determination of the amount of the contribution is discussed.

As example a cooling appliance, like a refrigerator, is taken: a) The return premium

The return premium serves as an incentive to return appliances via the correct channels.

The amount must be high enough to persuade the consumer to take this course of action.

The premium must be well above the possible material value of the product.

If the premium is too low, the metal (market)value will otherwise continue to be decisive for the collection behavior.

The return premium for cooling appliances is initially set at € 25 per device.

After one year it is evaluated whether this height has indeed had the desired effect. b) Implementation costs of the return premium For the organization of the return premium, € 2.00 per appliance is provided.

The following costs are provided: Initially: - Structuring digital infrastructure return premium ("track and trace" and website) - Structuring digital infrastructure financial settlement - Data security - Design and purchase used tools and hardware (barcodes, scanners) - Content of communication On-going: - Daily management digital system - Help desk - Operations - Use of materials - Communication with retail and consumer c) Implementation costs chain partners The collection centers at municipalities and retail will be used for the collection of the appliances from the return program, and function as first link in the processing chain.

The retailer provides the consumer with the ECL when he buys a new appliance.

The collection centers tag the returned, old devices for the "track and trace" program.

In cases where no new appliance has been bought, the ECL will be provided to the consumer at the municipal collection center.

In addition, centers ensure that the devices are correctly loaded in the waste containers.

Per appliance €6 is provided for this task. d) Contribution to the circular incentive program

For the various stimulation programs €4 per appliance is provided.

A precise breakdown of funds between the programs is determined during the roll-out of the programs.

The programs is set up on the basis of independent, transparent budgets.

The execution is done by selected operational organizations.

The cost per subprogram are typically built up as follows: - The plastic granulate stimulation program comprises research costs, organization costs and an incentive premium. - The reuse program comprises costs of a pilot location and -organization, research costs and other organizational costs. - The lifetime extension program comprises research costs, organization costs and costs of (financial) stimulation of existing activities. - The (extended) reuse program parts comprises costs of pilot location and - organization, research costs and other organizational costs. e) Sorting costs for reuse and processing In most cases, the sorting of appliances cannot take place at the locations of the collection centers.

In particular, municipal centers and small retail stores are not designed for this.

Sorting must therefore be done at regional sorting centers.

These sorting centers are arranged in such a way that mixed containers are emptied and sorted by processing flow.

The costs for logistics and sorting are set at € 6.00 per appliance. f) Direct operational costs After sorting, appliances are transported to a recycling center or processor.

The reuse process is expected to pay for itself.

The processing of cooling appliances is relatively expensive due to the specific treatment of - partly CFC / CFC - containing gases, oils and foam.

This processing takes place under closed conditions to prevent emissions to the environment.

The reuse of the metals ensures a partial return.

The anticipated costs for transport and processing are € 13.00 per appliance. a) Discount depending on circularity of device A differentiation on EC labelling is typically as follows: - a good or poorly recyclability of the refrigerator - arefrigerator with or without applied plastic re-granulate - arefrigerator with a proven long service life

- an energy-efficient or less energy-efficient refrigerator Through differentiation, a "green" refrigerator can be allocated a lower ECL amount and a "gray" refrigerator a higher ECL amount. In this example -/- €5. The "gray" refrigerator will therefore have to pay an additional internalized contribution to his producer collective to make up for this discount.

In order not to lose a competitive element with the introduction of the retum premium and the establishment of a visible ECL, part of the operational costs (as stipulated in f) can also be paid directly by the producers to the producer collective of choice.

As an embodiment of the present invention, the proposed waste management structure is schematically depicted in Figure 1 showing a visualization 100 of relations between elements and institutions involved in the method and/or the system of the invention and the flow of a appliances and recycled materials.

To facilitate easy reading of figure 1, hereafter a list of elements and their reference numbers is given.

101 Producer 102 First retailer 103 Consumer 104 Warranty service provider 105 Repair cafe 106 Second retailer 107 Waste collection center 108 Sorting and selecting center 109 Recycling center 110 Recycling factory 111 Reuse center 1001 Environmental Contribution 1002 Refund premium As an example, the journey of an appliance is followed from production of the new appliance to processing of the discarded appliance. The discarded appliance may also comprise a different appliance, but for the sake of simplicity the figure shows the journey of the same appliance.

ë A producer 101 produces an appliance which is sold to a consumer 103. Usually a first retailer 102 acts between producer and consumer for the sale of the appliance.

In the sales price of the appliance an Environmental Contribution is comprised, which is preferably an amount of money as described above.

At least part of that amount of money is transferred to producer 101, as indicated by arrow 1001. A warranty service provider 104 may offer services for repair or replacement to the consumer as well and whenever the appliance is broken and the appliance is still under warranty conditions, warranty service provider 104 may have the broken appliance repaired or replaced.

Alternatively, the consumer may repair the appliance himself or ask for assistance for repair by a repair cafe 105. At the end of the lifetime of the appliance, preferably when the appliance is broken beyond repair, or the energy consumption is too high compared to current standards, consumer 103 may choose to discard the appliance and can make a choice to offer the appliance to a second retailer 106. Of cause, second retailer 106 may be the same as first retailer 102, but that is not necessary.

Alternatively, consumer 102 may choose to offer the discarded appliance to a waste collection center 107. Whoever collects the discarded appliance, the second retailer 106 or the collection center 107, then grants consumer 103 the right to collect a refund premium as indicated by arrow 1002. The discarded appliance is then further transferred to a sorting- and selecting center 108, which decides to transfer the discarded appliance to a recycling center 109 in the case, for example because of ecological, technical, and/or economic reasons, or to a reuse center 111, for example because (parts of) the appliance may be reused.

The reusable appliance may be refurbished, may be offered for sale to a consumer 103 and treated as a new appliance in the process.

Reusable parts of the discarded appliance may also be offered to producer 101, retailer 102,106 or to consumer 102 directly.

When transferred to recycling center 109, the discarded appliance may be destroyed (taken apart, shredded etc.) and the (raw) material such as recycled plastic granulate may be offered to producer 101 to be used in the production of new appliances.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that a person skilled in the art is able to design many alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim.

Use of the verb "to comprise" and its conjugations does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those stated in a claim.

The term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

The article "a" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements.

The article "the" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements.

In the device claim enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware.

The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Claims

1% CONCLUSIONS

1. A method for organizing, structuring and / or stimulating the recycling of one or more appliances for household use, characterized in that a new appliance of the one or more appliances is labeled with an Environmental Contribution label, the label comprises one or more elements that indicate a quantified aspect of Environmental Contribution, and wherein the one or more elements comprises a return premium for a comparable old appliance.

The method of claim 1, characterized in that the method comprises visibly specifying the sales price of the new device with the return premium as part of the environmental fee.

The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the one or more elements further comprise one of the group comprising: - implementation costs of the retro-premium; ~ implementation costs of the chain partners; - contribution to circular incentive program; - sorting costs for reuse and processing; - direct operational costs; - initialized part of the contribution.

The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the method comprises that the sales price of the new device is visibly specified with the one or more elements as part of the environmental contribution.

§. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of:

- no consumer buys the new device from a shop for a price including the relour premium; - the dealer provides a tag to the person, which tag includes a unique identifier representing a monetary value associated with the delivery of a similar old device into a waste collection center. 5. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of transferring at least a portion of the return premium paid by the consumer to a third party fund.

The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the method further comprises the steps of: - collecting the old device from the consumer upon delivery of the new device; - checking the tag and registering the collection of the old device and identifier.

The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of: - a consumer hands in an old appliance to a collection center, such as a municipal collection center; The collection center provides a label to the consumer, representing a monetary value associated with the return of the old device to the collection center, which monetary value is managed by a third party fund.

The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of transferring at least one portion of the cash value of the fund to the consumer, depending on a stage in the disposal of the returned item. old appliance.

The method according to any one of claims 5-8, characterized in that the label makes it possible to identify the phase of the waste processing by one or more collection and registration centers arranged for reading the label during processing and register the old device.

The method according to claim 3 or 10, characterized in that the method comprises that information about a stage in the processing and registration of the waste apparsal is provided to a central hub and made available to the consumer via a website or a software application.

12. A system for organizing, structuring and / or stimulating the recycling of an appliance, characterized in that, the appliance comprises an Environmental Contribution label that is designed to indicate & one or more elements that represent a quantified aspect of Environmental Contribution singing.

The system of claim 12, characterized in that a label is provided comprising a monetary value associated with the collection of a similar old appliance in a collection center for waste disposal.

The system of claim 13, characterized in that the label comprises a sticker adapted to be attached to the old device before or upon entering the process of the.

The system of claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the label comprises a smartphone, such as a Radio Frequency indication label or barcode, arranged to be read by the centers.

The system team according to any one of claims 13-15, characterized in that the system comprises a collection center and one or more processing and registration centers arranged to process and register the label.