Further development of product responsibility in the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act

The study examines how product responsibility under the ElektroG can be reformed to improve the collection, reuse and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Germany. The starting point is that the volume of new electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market is rising sharply, whilst the separate collection of waste equipment is lagging significantly behind. Germany has been falling well short of the EU collection target of 65% for years; in 2022, the rate stood at just 31.7%, and in 2023 it was even below 30%. The study examines the design and functioning of the current – and, above all, historically evolved – system of shared product responsibility, in which responsibilities are distributed amongst many stakeholders. In this context, the present study investigates the extent to which a redesign of product responsibility under the ElektroG could strengthen collection and treatment (in particular, preparation for reuse and high-quality recycling) and thereby deliver environmental benefits.