The European Commission has drafted a Regulation establishing a common methodology for calculating the weight of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the national market in each Member State and another for calculating the weight of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) generated in each Member State.

There are several ways of gathering information and making calculations but these are limited by several factors: the lack of data for products sold prior to the WEEE legislation; more products having been added to the scope when the Directive was recast; and some WEEE that bypasses the proper channels, or is not adequately measured, or where the data is just not publicly available.

The draft Regulation proposes a common methodology to calculate the historical data (up to 2012) and to complement and allow validation of the National Registers’ data in the future.

Collection rates broadly rose until 2012, though there was a drop after 2004 because of the shift to lighter weight products (TVs, laptops etc.) and a further fall after 2008 due to the financial crisis. In recent years there have also been fluctuations attributed to varying subsidies for photovoltaics affecting their sales in some Member States.