WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT (WEEE) REGULATIONS 2006

Memo M 7/07

1.  Introduction

The EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) is intended to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment, by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount of WEEE going to landfill. 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 WEEE Directive is implemented in the UK by the WEEE Regulations 2006, whose provisions will affect the University from 1 July 2007. They place obligations on the producers of EEE (defined as those who put electrical and electronic equipment onto the market) and on distributors. From 1 July 2007 producers will become responsible for recycling WEEE produced in the UK (the University will not normally be regarded as a producer of EEE, but as an end-user).

This memo and the attached flowchart are intended to inform departments about the regulations, with the likely effects highlighted in italics. This is a summary of the current situation, but there may be some initial difficulty and confusion when the regulations are implemented, as it is not clear that all producers are fully prepared to meet their obligations.

Disposal of all non-hazardous WEEE, like the disposal of other non-hazardous wastes, will be a departmental responsibility. The Safety Office will continue to arrange and pay for the disposal of all hazardous WEEE e.g. equipment containing refrigerant, asbestos, cathode ray tubes, oil, batteries, fluorescent tubes, and other mercury containing equipment (e.g. some light bulbs, especially low energy ones).

2.  Producers’ responsibilities

(a)           The Directive requires producers to mark EEE with the approved symbol (a crossed out wheelie bin) indicating that the equipment should not be disposed of in landfill. For EEE manufactured after 13 August 2005 a horizontal bar is added.

(b)           Producers must join (or, less likely, set up their own) producer compliance scheme (PCS), through which they will finance the collection, treatment, recycling, and environmentally sound disposal of separately collected WEEE. The PCS will deal with the Environment Agency on the producers’ behalf, registering each of its members, reporting information, and declaring compliance with their obligations.

The compliance scheme is responsible for the WEEE if the EEE was sold to you after 13 August 2005, or if you are replacing it with new equivalent EEE. Your EEE supplier can give you information on the take back system available to you.

(c)           The regulations allow for negotiation between producers and business users (e.g. departments of the University) over the allocation of responsibility for WEEE. Users can agree to transfer producer obligations for WEEE that is being replaced, or for new EEE when it becomes WEEE and is discarded, and this agreement can be part of normal contract negotiations.

Individual departments should understand that they will be responsible for disposal arrangements and costs if they choose to negotiate WEEE responsibilities with their supplier or producer in this way.

(d)           Where producer compliance schemes do not apply, the end-user (the last user) is responsible for treatment, recycling and disposal of WEEE. The end-user is obliged to ensure that the WEEE is separately collected and to obtain and retain proof that it was passed to a waste management company who treated and disposed of it in an environmentally sound manner.

Departments that make electrical and electronic equipment for use within the University are not regarded as EEE producers, but the department is still responsible for treating and disposing of it through a reputable waste contractor. If the equipment is passed to another institution departments can negotiate responsibility for disposal, in which case a record of the agreement should be kept. Complications may arise if payment is received for such equipment and the department should contact the Safety Office for further advice in this case.

3.  Disposal of WEEE

(a)           After 1 July 2007 WEEE will need to be segregated from other wastes during storage, collection, and disposal (these provisions apply once it has been designated as waste).

(b)           After 1 July 2007, departments will be responsible for the disposal of all historic, non-hazardous WEEE (EEE that was purchased before 13 August 2005) that is not being replaced with new equivalent EEE. These items will not be covered by a PCS and their disposal will incur (as yet unknown) costs for the department.

(c)           Departments are encouraged to dispose of all surplus EEE now. Until 1 July it is lawful to dispose of this material (provided it is not hazardous) in normal waste streams, but departments should first consult their waste contractor, as some may not wish to handle such wastes.

May 2007