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WEEE rules lack incentive

Electronic waste laws finally published after two-year delay

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations were officially published last week, some two years late.

From July 2007, producers of electrical goods will be required to meet the environmental costs of dealing with waste products.

Laying the WEEE regulations before Parliament, science minister Malcolm Wicks said: ‘Electrical waste is a growing environmental problem in the UK with more than two million tonnes dumped in landfill last year.’

‘There is no incentive for those that produce them to care about the lifecycle of their products. These regulations will mean they can no longer shirk this responsibility,’ he said. ‘Some responsible producers are already factoring the cost of recycling their product into the design process and recognise that caring about what happens to the goods they sell need not cost the Earth.’

By 15 March 2007, suppliers will have to join an approved producer scheme to ensure they comply with the directive from 1 July 2007. But a survey conducted last month says that only 39 per cent of IT directors understand the directive and its business implications.

Analyst Gartner’s Lars Mieritz says the UK has not handled the implementation of the law as well as other European countries.

‘Britain is well behind other countries in making this directive law,’ he said. ‘The philosophy that the UK has taken around WEEE is that there are multiple approved take-back schemes whereas most other countries do not have a whole series of different authorised schemes, and so will probably be more efficient.’

A recent report by vendor HP says if manufacturers and users all work together, implementing WEEE could cost as little as one pence per machine.

Mieritz says while penalties will exist for suppliers that do not comply, th ere needs to be more incentives for end users.

‘Big firms and government have to be seen to be whiter than white,’ he said. ‘But where are the real penalties for those who do not? I think over time you will find a lot more penalties are geared towards these green issues, because that is when you can really control behaviour.’

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