Progress towards meeting European recycling commitments for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the UK is moving "way beyond expectations", writes James Cartledge.

The UK has more collection sites than most other European countries for old appliances, and is already thought to be achieving a better collection rate than the Irish, who started their system under the EU WEEE Directive in 2005.

Collections of waste electronics are going well in the UK, finalising arrangements for the transfer of recycling evidence is the next step

The UK legislation - the WEEE Regulations - came fully into force on July 1 this year (see letsrecycle.com story).

Government officials met with producer compliance schemes last week, ahead of the finalisation of arrangements for co-ordinating WEEE producer responsibility.

The schemes, who are responsible for collecting and recycling WEEE on behalf of manufacturers and importers of new electrical goods, were told that the internet-based Settlement Centre will go live within the next few weeks.

The Centre will provide a central information hub for how much recycling has been carried out, and how much is needed for each scheme to fulfil its members' obligations.

The system has now been tested, and recyclers will be given their pass codes soon in order to start entering their data onto the online database concerning the recycling of WEEE.

One issue that is concerning government officials at the moment, however, is the fees that electronics producers may be charged by compliance schemes to cover WEEE recycling costs. Some of the suggested costs now being put forward by some schemes have been "surprising" to BERR officials.

Achievements

Designated collection facilities in the UK
Civic amenity sites	1,108
Waste transfer stations	234
Commercial sector	93
Not-for-profit sector	63
Total	1,537

Officials from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) said what has been achieved so far in the WEEE producer responsibility system has "vastly exceeded" expectations.

The UK now has 1,537 official collection points - known as designated collection facilities (DCFs) - and all local authorities throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have now signed up their sites to be part of this national WEEE collection network.

And, 85% of local authorities have either now signed up or are finalising arrangements with a producer compliance scheme to clear their sites of electrical waste. Some smaller compliance schemes are joining up into consortia in order to operate WEEE clearance services from local authority sites.

Consumers also have in-store take-back services available where retailers have not joined the national Distributors' Deposit Scheme - notably the DSG chain of stores like Currys and PC World.

Officials believe around 4,000 producers are now registered - as they are legally required to do - to pay their share of UK recycling. While this is believed to be about halfway in terms of the overall numbers of companies that will need to register to avoid prosecution, those that have not registered are understood to be the very smallest companies. In terms of the overall electronics market, BERR believes more than 95% of new electronics sales (by tonnage) are by registered producers.

The main thing, officials say, is to encourage the remaining companies to sign up through education, rather than seeking prosecutions at this stage.

Approved electronics recyclers
	AATF	AE
England & Wales	240	21
Northern Ireland	9	4
Scotland	18	6
AATF: Approved Authorised Treatment Facility AE: Approved Exporter

Producers that are seeking to sign up - and there is no threshold to allow even the smallest of producers to escape recycling obligations - have a choice of 37 producer compliance schemes to join.

On the treatment side, the BERR officials are also pleased with the coverage of accredited authorised treatment facilities (AATFs) across the country, as well as the number of approved exporters (AE) in the system. They have applauded the "huge investment" that has gone into new electronics recycling facilities around the UK.

"WEEE is being collected, and recycled, and we are meeting our targets," said Tony Pedrotti, director of sustainable development at BERR.

Settlement

Transferring documentary evidence for all the recycling carried out under the WEEE Regulations from recyclers and exporters to producers is the next key step in the system.

WEEE Settlement Centre
	- Run by Real Time Engineering Ltd
	- Online "noticeboard" for WEEE recycling evidence
	- AATFs to post evidence within 28 days of issuing it
	- Schemes to notify Centre and BERR when trading evidence
	- Schemes advised to trade quickly, not all at end of year

Under the WEEE system, when a producer compliance scheme clears a DCF of collected appliances and takes them to an accredited recycler or exporter, an evidence note is issued. This must then be entered into the online database of the Settlement Centre by the AATF or AE within 28 days or it will "lapse" as acceptable evidence.

Initially, local authorities who have not signed up a producer compliance scheme to clear their sites can claim back costs of dealing with WEEE via the Settlement Centre. But, this will not be required when all DCFs are on contracts with compliance schemes.

Compliance schemes with a surplus or deficit of WEEE evidence in any of the 13 categories needed will be able to trade with each other, with both sides notifying the Settlement Centre and BERR when they trade evidence.

BERR officials expect to see a "steady stream" of evidence going through the Settlement Centre. It would be very unwise of schemes to wait until the end of the year to trade evidence, either those holding surplus evidence or those requiring it, schemes have been warned.

Government and the enforcement authorities will be watching the situation closely, since ministers are very keen for the system to work properly. "BERR continues to be in discussion with a number of producer compliance schemes to ensure that the system works effectively," Mr Pedrotti said. "The government is committed to having an effective system, and it will have that."

Costs

On the issue of costs that producer compliance schemes are to charge their members to cover WEEE recycling costs, BERR officials have expressed some concern about the kinds of costs now being stated.

Mr Pedrotti told letsrecycle.com after the meeting with schemes that he accepted that recyclers must be able to carry out the recycling of WEEE to the standards needed under the Directive and be able to make a profit. But, he said: "I am concerned at the cost to business. We are watching this."

Retailers

On the retail side of the system, the government is encouraged at the steps being taken by retailers to inform the public about how to recycle their old appliances.

There will be guidance issued soon by the Vehicle Certification Agency on its priorities for enforcing the retailers' WEEE obligations, and mystery shoppers have already started to visit retail stores to check that they are offering free takeback services to consumers.

As with producer registration, the government is intending to take an "educate, not prosecute" attitude to retailers in the initial stages of the WEEE Regulations.

Advisory Group

Meanwhile, BERR is setting up a non-departmental body - the WEEE Advisory Body - to draw together industry expertise and inform officials and ministers on further improvements to the WEEE Regulations moving forward.

Interviews for the Group, which is likely to include 12 members plus a chairman, have already been carried out and recommendations are being made to minister Malcolm Wicks by the end of this week. A public announcement of the Group members will be made shortly.

The Group will include representatives from the recycling side of the system as well as producers, with members drawing on external networks, to challenge government and stakeholders to improve the operation of the WEEE system. Its first meeting is likely to be at the end of this year or early in the New Year, with meetings then held quarterly.

Mr Pedrotti said: "This will not be a lobbying group, but they will be independent and able to look at things like how does the UK move towards more individual producer responsibility, and also the European Commission's review of the WEEE Directive in 2008."

"A successful group will be critical to both sides - both inward-facing to challenge government and the Commission, but also to challenge stakeholders," he added.

Regulations

During the meeting with compliance schemes, government officials reminded schemes that new WEEE Regulations amending the existing Regulations are to be laid before Parliament in the next few weeks. These amendments are only minor changes reflecting comments received on the current legislation, but do include the formalisation of the issue of re-use.

The amended regulations will be in force for the start of the 2008 compliance period, in January.