The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive is a European Directive which requires producers to make arrangements for the collection and recycling of WEEE. The Directive is transposed into national law by EU Member States. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union or of the European Economic Area, and therefore has no obligation to follow EU policy.
Producer responsibility for the take-back of electrical and electronic equipment in Switzerland is covered by the Ordinance on the Return, Take-back and Disposal of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ORDEE). The Ordinance came into force on July 1st 1998 and an amendment came into force in January 2005 which extended the scope of the Ordinance to increase the number of categories of electrical and electronic equipment which are covered.
The requirements of ORDEE are different from the requirements of the WEEE Directive. In particular, the categories of equipment which are covered by ORDEE do not include many of the types of equipment produced by SCIEX. However, ORDEE does place a requirement on SCIEX to provide collection and recycling of IT equipment which SCIEX sells in Switzerland alongside its medical devices when this becomes waste.
The Swiss authorities have approved three collective compliance schemes, SENS, SWICO and SLRS which between them account for all WEEE collection and recycling in Switzerland. SWICO deals with IT and telecoms equipment, SENS deals with household appliances and SLRS deals with lamps and luminaires.
For IT equipment which is sold by SCIEX and has become waste, SCIEX has joined compliance scheme SWICO to provide collection and recycling of these types of products. The customer should contact SWICO directly to arrange collection and transport of the waste equipment:
SWICO Recycling
Hardturmstrasse 103
8005 Zürich
Switzerland
Phone: +41 44 446 90 94
Fax: +41 44 446 90 91
Email: info@swicorecycling.ch
For all other types of products sold by SCIEX, it is the customer's responsibility to ensure the environmentally sound collection, treatment and recycling of SCIEX products at end-of-life.