Collection and Recycling Arrangements in Spain

Under the Spanish Royal Decree 208/2005 on Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Management of its Waste which came into force on August 13th 2005, the producer of certain types of electrical and electronic equipment must arrange for the collection and recycling of its products once it becomes waste. This equipment is known as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Under this Regulation, the producer of certain types of electrical and electronic equipment is required to provide arrangements for the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of certain new electrical and electronic equipment that you buy from them after August 13th 2005, when that new equipment eventually becomes waste. This is known as New WEEE.

Under the Decree, the producer of certain types of electrical and electronic equipment must also arrange for the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of any electrical and electronic equipment that a new purchase replaces, on a one-for-one, like-for-like basis. The old equipment that the new purchase replaces is referred to as Historic WEEE.

Molecular Devices does not have a sales office or approved distributor in Spain. Instead, Molecular Devices products are sold directly to business end-users in Spain from sales offices in either Germany or UK.

Selling products directly to an end-user in another Member State is known as ‘cross-border selling’. The WEEE Directive and Member State WEEE Regulations state that Molecular Devices is not responsible for WEEE arising from cross-border sales of business products directly to the business end-user in Spain. Instead, it is the business end-user's responsibility to ensure that products which they buy through cross-border selling arrangements are managed in an environmentally responsible manner at end of life.

Although there is no legal requirement for Molecular Devices to arrange for the collection and recycling of its products once these become waste, Molecular Devices is an environmentally responsible company. We have therefore decided to establish a voluntary take-back and recycling service in Spain to ensure the environmentally sound treatment and disposal of our products.

Molecular Devices products are very competitively priced. Any new increase in operating costs for manufacturers such as Molecular Devices is normally reflected in a price increase in the product. However, instead of increasing the prices of our products, Molecular Devices has decided to share these new environmental costs directly with our customers. We believe in being transparent with you on any new environmental costs that our products need to address.

Our approach to sharing these new environmental costs is:

• Molecular Devices pays for the costs of treatment, recycling and recovery of the WEEE to meet the targets set by the Decree.
• Molecular Devices pays for the costs of data management and reporting to the General Directorate of Quality and Environmental Assessment of the Ministry of the Environment to demonstrate compliance with all administrative requirements of the Decree.
• you pay for transportation of your WEEE to Molecular Devices's appointed recycler in Spain.

Molecular Devices has established a recycling contract with the European Advanced Recycling Network (EARN) and will cover any costs of treatment, recycling and recovery of the equipment on arrival at the EARN recycling facility in Spain. All New WEEE that arises from the purchase of Molecular Devices products is classed as non-hazardous waste.

It is your responsibility to arrange and pay for costs of collection and transportation to the recycler. Under Spanish waste management procedures, you are free to use any carrier you wish to collect and transport non-hazardous WEEE to the EARN recycler, providing the weight of equipment to be transported is less than 1000 kg.

For larger quantities of waste you may wish to contact the recycler directly in order to arrange and pay for an alternative collection method. The EARN recycling facilities in Spain are:

There is no legal requirement that WEEE be accompanied by documentation when transported in Spain. However, in order to enable EARN to identify Molecular Devices equipment upon arrival at the recycler's address, please download the recycling label for Eastern Spain, the recycling label for the North and the rest Spain, the recycling label for Southern Spain, or the recycling label for Central Spain. Complete the label with your company details and attach it to a suitable box for transport to EARN.

Recycling Label for Spanish Customers (Eastern Spain)

Recycling Label for Spanish Customers (North and the rest of Spain)

Recycling Label for Spanish Customers (Southern Spain)

Recycling Label for Spanish Customers (Central Spain)

WEEE Reporting Recycling Data for Molecular Devices Equipment in Spain

Under Article 11 of Decree 208/2005, Molecular Devices must provide annual information on the quantities and categories of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market, reused, recycled and recovered within Spain.

The first WEEE recycling report will cover the period July 2007 to June 2008. EARN will prepare the recycling data report for Molecular Devices. Information in the EARN recycling data report will be summarised on the Molecular Devices website when it becomes available.