Collection and Recycling Arrangements in Switzerland

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 any of the types of equipment produced by Molecular Devices. ORDEE does not place any requirements on Molecular Devices, or any distributors of Molecular Devices products, to provide collection and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Switzerland.

Instead, it is the customer's responsibility to ensure the environmentally sound collection, treatment and recycling of Molecular Devices products at end-of-life.