Regulation
WEEE is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the western world, with approximately 2 million tonnes of electronic equipment such as computers being thrown away every year in the UK alone!
Background
In order to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill, the WEEE Directive was issued by the European Commission on 27th January 2003. The Directive requires member states to achieve minimum recycling targets for waste electrical equipment and the Directives policies were included into UK law when the WEEE Regulations came into force on 2nd January 2007.
How the WEEE Regulations work
The WEEE Directive comes under category of legislation referred to as ‘Producer responsibility’ and requires businesses to be responsible for their impact on the environment when their products become electrical waste. Producer responsibility is an alternative to taxation and gives producers an incentive to ulitmately design products which will ultimately create less waste, are more lightweight and can be reused or recycled more easily.
Meeting the targets
The goal of WEEE Directive is to ensure that recovered WEEE is treated to appropriate standards and targets, with companies that are referred to as ‘producers’ being forced to pay for such treatment. Retailers are often referred to as ‘distributors’ in the legislation and have collection responsibilities for WEEE. Business users can also face obligations under certain circumstances.
Who is obligated?
There is no minimum threshold below which action needn’t be taken. Any company classed as a ‘producer’ or ‘distributor’ will face obligations under the legislation and therefore is at risk of prosecution if they don’t meet their requirements. For Example: A High Street PC shop may manufacture a bespoke system for one of their clients, this falls under the “producer” remit as this PC shop is “PRODUCING” WEEE which is being placed on the UK market.
What are the obligations?
To find out more about the producer and distributor obligations, please contact us.
