Parlimentary news

New Ground 68
Spring 2005

Electrical Waste: is it sorted?

The Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive should be implemented this August. However, there are real challenges for the government if the Directive is to become an effective regulatory tool. These include:

- Lack of pragmatic dialogue between government, local authorities (who control Civic Amenity Sites) and industry stakeholders to ensure an adequate collection infrastructure is in place. Despite there being sufficient amenities to ensure that the UK's 4kg WEEE per head of population per annum recylcing target is achieved, delay and poor stakeholder engagement impedes waste infrastructure provisions.

- WEEE needs to be handled in several (5 or 6) different product groups because of their different physical size, treatment requirements and percentage recycling targets.

- Producers (manufacturers & importers of EEE) are expecting to be allocated WEEE according to market share. Producers are also expected to meet transportation, treatment and recycling costs. Producers still dispute the proportion of costs allocated to them according to market share data.

- WEEE must be collected and sorted from Designated Collection Facilities (DCF). However, producers and local authorities are in conflict over the role of Local Authority Civic Amenity sites and their compatability as DCFs.

The Solution?

Warehouse type 'Sortation Centres' are now widely acknowledged as a practical interface between the range of different operations that will collect WEEE within an area and the processors of WEEE. The sortation fee, set on a regular basis, would be a standard amount (either by tonne or by unit) payable to the organisation that sorts WEEE. In reality the fee would be higher than the cost of some operations but lower than the operating costs of other sites.

In most cases the waste disposal authority for an area (responsible for CA sites) would constitute a 'Sortation Centre'. The authority would negotiate a contract determining the level of service. Retailers could similarly establish themselves as 'Sortation Centres' and be eligible for the fee. The fee would be funded either by producers, according to the amount produced, or retailers, as part of the retailer compliance scheme.

John Redmayne works for the waste consultancy, Eunomia.