The Directive requires Member States to create systems that allow final stakeholders and distributors to return e-waste free of charge. To guarantee environmentally sound treatment of the separately collected e-waste, the E-waste Directive lays down treatment requirements for specific materials and components of e-waste, and for the treatment and storage sites. This legal framework uses the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility, which requires producers to organise and/or finance the collection, treatment, and recycling of their products at end-of-life.