Morris Ashleigh, Metternicht Graciela
Institute of Environmental Studies, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia.
J Environ Manage. 2016 Oct 1;181:218-230. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.06.013. Epub 2016 Jun 27.
Australia is one of the top ten consumers of electrical and electronic (EE) products in the world; yet legislation for the management of WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) is in its infancy and has received minimal review. This paper sets to assess the effectiveness of Australian legislation, policies and associated instruments, with a focus on the sub-national level of implementation. A mixed methodology was adopted to this end, including: literature review, case study, semi-structured interviews and a comparative analysis of WEEE management practices in Australia versus Japan and Switzerland; the latter to identify causative factors of international leading practice that could advance current policy in Australia. The findings indicate that Australia's management of WEEE is not effective. The rate and types of WEEE generated in Australia far exceed the measures prescribed in legislation to address or even curb the problem. The five key issues were identified around stakeholder roles and responsibilities; scope of WEEE categories legislated for recovery and recycling; public engagement and accessibility to services; recycling and material recovery targets; and the auditing and compliance of material flows within the system. Our findings suggest that Australia has the capacity to address the five key priority areas within the current legal framework and achieve effective WEEE management in line with leading practice examples from Japan and Switzerland.
澳大利亚是全球十大电气和电子（EE）产品消费国之一；然而，关于废弃电气和电子设备（WEEE）管理的立法尚处于起步阶段，且极少受到审查。本文旨在评估澳大利亚的立法、政策及相关手段的有效性，重点关注次国家层面的实施情况。为此采用了混合研究方法，包括：文献综述、案例研究、半结构化访谈以及对澳大利亚与日本和瑞士的WEEE管理实践进行比较分析；后者旨在找出国际领先实践的成因因素，以推动澳大利亚当前的政策发展。研究结果表明，澳大利亚对WEEE的管理并不有效。澳大利亚产生的WEEE的数量和种类远远超过了立法规定的解决甚至遏制该问题的措施。围绕利益相关者的角色和责任、立法规定的用于回收和再循环的WEEE类别范围、公众参与和服务可及性、回收和材料回收目标以及系统内物质流的审计和合规性等方面，确定了五个关键问题。我们的研究结果表明，澳大利亚有能力在当前法律框架内解决这五个关键优先领域的问题，并参照日本和瑞士的领先实践范例实现有效的WEEE管理。
