Government to punish failing WEEE schemes

The government has threatened to take action against failing compliance schemes operating as third parties in the UK Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) system.

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said, “I cannot and will not let any producer compliance scheme running with its own agenda threaten the whole system and we will be working with the enforcement authorities to ensure that those that wish to distort the system are dealt with effectively.”

Wicks spoke at an event organised by the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform to give industry an overview of WEEE at the end of the first compliance period.

The regulation was introduced to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment by increasing re-use and recycling. It follows the “polluter pays principle”, where IT manufacturers take on disposal responsibilities for old equipment themselves or by signing up to a compliance scheme offered by one of the 40 government-approved waste-handling firms.

But recently the compliance schemes have been the subject of criticism, many failing to give the government a breakdown of the equipment they recycle so the government can attribute value to the data they collect.

“All producers must play their part and schemes should work with local authorities, and with the Reuse and the Treatment sectors to share best practice and find efficiencies,” said Wicks.

Wicks also announced government plans to undertake a review of the whole UK WEEE system and supporting infrastructure. The review will work with the Advisory Body that was set up by the Department of Business to give advice to the Government on the implementation of the WEEE directive, as well as producers, distributors, local authorities and small business representative bodies.