Date set for WEEE

Collection and recycling of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) will be the responsibility of manufacturers and retailers of the equipment from June 2006 following a Government announcement today.

The Government has postponed the implementation date for the WEEE Directive until June 2006 in the light of the preparations needed for this legislation and continuing concerns expressed by the business community and other stakeholders.

The WEEE Directive aims to address the environmental impact of electrical and electronic equipment and to promote its separate collection when it becomes waste. WEEE is a priority waste stream for the EU because of its growing volume in the municipal waste stream and its potential hazardousness following disposal.

Producers will have to finance treatment and recycling/recovery of separately collected WEEE in the UK to specified treatment standards and recycling/recovery targets. Retailers have an obligation to offer take-back services to householders.

Retailers and Local Authorities are involved in developing this collection infrastructure for household WEEE. The British Retail Consortium is developing a compliance scheme, under which participating retailers, instead of offering in-store take-back, will fund an alternative network of WEEE collection facilities. As part of this, they are offering funding to Local Authorities to upgrade civic amenity (CA) sites to facilitate separate collection of household WEEE.