WEEE Fact Sheet

WEEE Responsibilities fact sheet now available

Wednesday, 26 March 2008 13:08

Fact Sheet to help SMEs understand their WEEE Responsibilities now available, from the WEEE Recycling Network, to help overcome lack of awareness.

Although the The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations have been enforced in the UK for 12 months, a poll undertaken by NetRegs has found that only 12% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK could name the regulations.

The WEEE Regulations covers 10 product categories and is not confined solely to equipment such as washing machines, fridges, kettles and microwaves. The Regulations also covers calculators, desk top lamps, monitoring and control equipment, computers, printers and telephones. While some electrical and electronic equipment is exempt from the regulations, the rule of thumb says that if it is powered by electricity or batteries, than it is most probably covered under WEEE.

The WEEE Regulations require Business to Business (B2B) Producers of electrical and electronic equipment to take financial responsibility for the treatment, collection and recycling of their products at end of life.

From a legislative perspective, this is good news for SMEs. The WEEE Regulations allow business end users to return end-of-life equipment to the B2B Producer free of charge and avoid the cost of recycling. However, when drilling deeper into the details of the WEEE Regulations, it is not quite as simple as it would first appear. There are 3 issues within the Regulations that SMEs need to be aware of: -

01B2B Producers are allowed to transfer their treatment, collection and recycling liabilities to business end users, within their contractual terms and conditions.

02If, for any reason, business end users do not (or cannot) gain access to B2B Producer take-back systems, they are responsible to ensure that it is treated, collected and recycled according to the rules of the regulations, at their cost.

03Free tack back and collection occurs at the B2B Producer’s point of Sale. This means that business end users must pay for the costs of shipping WEEE to the central collection point established by the B2B Producer.

For many SMEs the administrative and shipment costs of sending WEEE back to Producers through their ‘free’ take back systems, outweigh the costs of bulking up all WEEE and dealing with it themselves. There are no mandatory requirements within the WEEE Regulations for B2B Distributors to take back WEEE at all.

Research undertaken by the WEEE Recycling Network (www.weeenetwork.com) has identified that most B2B Producers (that are members of the network and who have established take back systems) are not getting any requests by SME’s to use them.

Lorie Randall, Managing Director of DARP Environmental Ltd, who manages the WEEE Recycling Network, said:

Take a waste computer monitor. If a small business finds itself with one monitor to dispose of under WEEE, they have a choice: -

a) Ship it via courier service to the Producer and gain access to their free take back service

b) Ask their local waste contractor (or broker) to take it away at the same time as they collect other waste and pay for the cost themselves.

Lorie Randall continued:

If option B is the lowest cost route this would provide an answer to why SMEs are not using Producer take back systems. The other reason could be that SMEs are simply unaware that option A exists.

With the support of Rob Graham, Panel Adviser for Envirowise, a fact sheet specifically aimed at SMEs has been developed. For a free copy of the fact sheet, fill in our request form and receive a free copy of the fact sheet.