The VA switches directorates
July 14, 2021
Responsibility for the imaging equipment voluntary agreement has switched directorates within the European commission.
In an email seen by The Recycler confirms that responsibility for the imaging equipment voluntary agreement (VA) has changed within the European Commission from DG Energy to DG Environment.
The original VA, sighed in 2011 between OEMs via EuroVAprint, non-profit association grouping major manufacturers of imaging equipment that operate in Europe and DG Energy was focused on achieving energy reductions in printing equipment.
The remit of the latest VA required it to be “ambitious” and included the reuse of consumables. The latest version was submitted to the EU in April. The Recycler understands there is mounting opposition from EU member states as well as among Brussels NGO’s and more widely in the imaging industry. Here is what the Right to Repair organisation thinks about the VA.
One Brussels insider said, “the remit of DG Energy is not wide enough to cover what is needed for a successful VA, DG Environment does have that remit, so the change to DG Environment is a positive one.”
The European Commission’s executive vice president, Frans Timmermans, is expected to announce a range of regulations aimed at cutting EU greenhouse gases by 55% [from 1990 levels] by 2030.
Studies commissioned by the UK trade body UKCRA show that multiple reuse of toner cartridges can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 65%.
ETIRA President, Javier Martinez, said: “This is a very clear support for a sector which, in terms of reducing energy consumption during the product use phase, has reached its limits. DG Environment will have a much clearer vision of what circular ambition is, and we will see an increased push to ensure durability , repairability and reusability of products, and more customer freedom to move to more “truly circular proposals”, where “the closest the better” has to be the priority.
“For example it does not make any sense to send a printer to a far away, centralised location to be repaired or exchanged, when a technician can fix it locally.
“As for cartridges, it is clear that they have an extremely short use-life, and since they represent the bigger environmental impact of printing, this mandate has to be even stronger, and reuse targets have to be close to 100%”.
“We could even anticipate “regressive waste taxes “ for goods that are used longer and reach their end-of-life later, or are reused: those goods could be taxed differently compared to products that leave a big gap between their end-of-use (economical) and their end-of-life (technical), or that are designed for single-use only.”
Our take on this: A voluntary agreement works only for the signatories and their supporters, not the whole industry, and society at large. If you see the direction of travel as far as EU policy is concerned, reducing emissions, ending single use, expanding the right to repair etc. All the signs are positive, but only legislation can bring about the dynamic change needed for the imaging sector to positively contribute to the climate change goals to deliver a better environment. That said, we don’t expect much to happen during the next six weeks of the Brussels holiday hiatus.
Categories : World Focus
Tags : DG Energy DG Environment European Commission Voluntary Agreement
