Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive

 The UK WEEE Regulations (The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006) came into force on 2^nd January 2007.

The legislation affects producers (manufacturers and importers) and distributors (retailers and distance sellers) of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE).

The WEEE regulations implement the principle of “extended producer responsibility” by addressing the environmental impacts of WEEE and encouraging its separate collection and subsequent treatment, reuse, recovery, recycling and environmentally sound disposal. It seeks to achieve this by making producers responsible for financing the collection, treatment and recovery of waste electrical equipment and by obliging distributors to allow consumers to return their waste equipment free of charge. The agencies responsible for enforcement are:

The Environment Agency – England & Wales

Scottish Environment Protection Agency – Scotland

Department of Environment – Northern Ireland

 Both a company and an individual can be prosecuted for non compliance or for failing to comply with individual requirements of the regulations. This regulation affects all companies regardless of size.

Who is obligated?

Producers: a business that places the electrical product on the market in the UK. If manufactured in the UK it will be the manufacturer or brand owner; if imported it will be the importer of record.

Distributors: a business that is either a retailer of EEE for use in households or a wholesaler of EEE for use in households, irrespective of method of sale.

Business user of EEE: a business that uses non-household EEE.

What you have to do

 1.      If you are a producer, you must:

1.1      Join a compliance scheme

1.2      Through the scheme, register with Environment Agency (registration fee £445 if annual sales over £1m or £220 if annual sales less than £1m);

1.3      Keep records for products placed on UK market:

·        Number and tonnage of products, by category

·        Split by sales intended for private households and “other users”

·        Keep records for a minimum of 4 years

·        Data to be given to authority (via the scheme) for each quarter period by the last day of the month following the end of the quarter period

1.4      Provide information for recyclers on reuse and environmentally sound treatment for each new product (type of EEE) put onto the market, within     one  year   of such equipment being put on to the market;

1.5      Declare your WEEE producer registration number to any distributor to whom you sell EEE;

1.6      Mark each item of EEE with a crossed out wheeled bin symbol, a producer identification mark and a date mark by which the item can be easily identified as      having been put on to the market after 13^th August 2005;

1.7      Comply with the requirements of Article 8 of the Directive for EEE, if you supply EEE to any other member state of the EU (except UK) by means of distance communication, provide a statement of compliance to the appropriate authority and keep records of weight of EEE put onto the market.

2.       If you are a Producer of electrical or electronic products intended for sale to private households (B2C -business to consumer):

2.1      You must finance the costs of collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE for products sold to private households. The cost is  borne by the operators of compliance schemes based on a formula determined by government (effectively market share) and passed on to members, together with any management fees, based on a formula determined by the scheme.

2.2      You must not show, at time of sale, the cost of financing disposal of WEEE from private households. However, the producer may show the purchaser the cost of financing the collection and disposal from private households of WEEE arising from EEE put onto the market prior to 13/08/05.

3.       If you are a Producer of electrical or electronic products intended for sale to consumers other than private households (B2b - business to  business):

3.1     You must finance the costs of collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE for products sold to business. The cost is borne by the operators of compliance schemes based on the amount sold by their members and passed on to members, together with any management fees, based on a formula determined by the scheme.

This includes:

·        WEEE arising from EEE put on the market by that producer from 13/08/05

·        WEEE arising from products put on the market before 13/08/05 where the producer is supplying EEE intended to replace that WEEE

4.       If you are a distributor, you have the following obligations for WEEE arising from private households:

4.1       Information:

4.1.1    A distributor who supplies new EEE shall make information available to users of EEE in private households on—

(a) the collection and take back system available to them;

(b) the role of users of EEE in private households under these Regulations in contributing to the recovery of WEEE to minimise the disposal of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and achieve a high level of collection of WEEE for recovery, treatment and environmentally sound disposal;

(c) the potential effects on human health and on the environment caused by the presence of hazardous substances in EEE; and

(d) the meaning of the crossed out wheeled bin symbol.

4.2      Collection and take back:

A distributor who supplies new EEE to a person shall ensure that WEEE from private households can be returned to him free of charge and on a one-to-one basis by that person, provided that any such WEEE— (a) is of equivalent type to, and (b) has fulfilled the same function as, the supplied new EEE.

4.3      Record keeping:

A distributor who operates a “take back” operation from private households shall maintain records of the number of units of WEEE returned to him and returned by him for disposal.

4.4      Return of “take back WEEE”:

A distributor may return WEEE from private households free of charge to the system that has been set up by the operator of a scheme. The scheme may provide a collection service for a fee.

4.5     Exemption for members of a distributor take back scheme

4.5.1  Where a distributor is a member of the distributor take back scheme managed by Valpak, he will be exempt from complying with the requirement to operate a collection and take back scheme (regulation 31 and 34) for the period of his membership.

4.5.2   under the Valpak scheme the distributor will be required to submit details of total £ sales of EEE in 2006 and pay a fee as follows for membership for 3 years:

·       For EEE sales up to £100,000 a fee of £200

·       For EEE sales above £100,000  up to £1.5m a fee of £750

·       For EEE sales above £1.5m the company must submit details of unit sales of EEE in 2006 and the fee will be determined based on their proportion of total EEE volume in the scheme

5.      If you are the end business user:

5.1     Any business using and disposing of EEE must comply with these regulations, meaning you must store, collect, treat, recycle and dispose of WEEE separately from other waste. Similar to Waste Transfer Notes, you must obtain and keep proof that your WEEE was given to a reputable waste management company and treated and disposed of in an environmentally sound way.

5.2      Disposal is free if you were sold the EEE after 13/08/05 or if you are replacing EEE purchased before 13/08/05 with equivalent EEE. This disposal service will be   delivered through the producer take back scheme.

5.3     You must pay for WEEE where you are disposing of EEE purchased before 13/08/05 and it is not being replaced by other similar EEE (see above paragraph).    The final user of that WEEE must finance the costs of its collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal.

However, this does not prevent the user from concluding an agreement whereby the parties to the agreement make alternative arrangements between themselves to finance the costs of the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE.

5.4      In respect of any WEEE for which the business user is responsible for financing the costs of disposal, they must ensure that such WEEE is—

(a) treated within the United Kingdom at an authorised treatment facility; or

(b) exported by an accredited exporter for treatment outside the united Kingdom.

This does not apply to WEEE that is reused as a whole

For help with compliance, or to arrange a free briefing/audit, please email John Williams or telephone 01491 872837

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