The EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (the WEEE Directive) officially came into force on August 13. From that date, the EU’s electronic and electrical equipment producers have been financially responsible for the collection, treatment and disposal of their end-of-life products.
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 for the EU because of growing volumes in the municipal waste stream and potential hazards following disposal.
However, regulators and businesses are still struggling with the directive, it has been suggested. Notably, the UK is putting back the date from which collection and recycling of scrap electronics will be the responsibility of manufacturers and retailers from January 2006 to June 2006. The government decided to postpone implementation to allow more preparation time amid continuing concerns within the business community about meeting the deadline.
Jeff Cooper, the Environment Agency’s Manager for Waste Producer Responsibility, comments: ‘The Environment Agency will work closely with government departments and the devolved administrations to implement the forthcoming WEEE regulations. We expect to be able to announce arrangements for the registration of producers in the early autumn, with registration starting in January 2006.’
The UK is one of four EU member states yet to transpose the text of the WEEE Directive into national law, the European Commission revealed last week. The others are Malta, France and Poland.
