The European Parliament's Environment Committee has recommended that member states collect 85% of WEEE by 2016 and recycle 50-75%, depending on the category.
The second reading debate on revisions to the so-called WEEE Directive took place during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 18 January 2012.
There are concerns that despite the WEEE Directive - which was finally implemented in 2007 - old televisions and computers containing hazardous substances are still being exported from Europe, and potentially poisoning workers at makeshift recycling plants in Africa and Asia.