Almost all English waste disposal authorities have now signed up a producer compliance scheme to take household waste electronic goods, or are close to finalising arrangements, the government has said.

The industry minister Lord Jones of Birmingham published a list of authorities last week for his parliamentary colleagues stating those councils who have "either already finalised or are in the process of finalising arrangements with producer compliance schemes for WEEE to be cleared".

Just a handful of councils are still to arrange partnerships with producer schemes to cover the costs of recycling WEEE

The handful of disposal authorities who weren't on the list have told letsrecycle.com that they are expecting to be signed up with a scheme soon.

Lord Jones' list included all English disposal authorities except Halton borough council, Warrington borough council, North East Lincolnshire council, Solihull council and the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority.

All 121 English disposal authorities have registered civic amenity sites or transfer stations as "designated collection facilities" under this year's new WEEE Regulations. Householders can hand in unwanted electrical appliances free of charge at these sites, and the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is then taken away by producer compliance schemes to be recycled.

The system effectively makes manufacturers and importers - via the schemes - pay for the collection and recycling of household WEEE.

Since the regulations came into force on July 1, it has taken some time for all the arrangements to be put in place, but the statement from Lord Jones signals the final stages of household WEEE collection systems being put in place.

Those local authorities that do not have a producer compliance scheme in place will be able to claim costs of recycling collected household WEEE from the government's Settlement Centre (see letsrecycle.com story) until they have a scheme in place.

Still to come

Of those not on the list, Halton borough council accepted it was "a bit behind", but said it was actually close to signing a contract with the compliance scheme Valpak, and that Valpak had begun taking WEEE away from its two registered sites in mid-September.

Halton's waste strategy and contracts manager Andy Horrocks explained: "It's a short-term contract up until September 2008, because we're going to be joining the Merseyside partnership, so I'm assuming something bigger will then be arranged for Merseyside as a whole."

A spokesman for the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority said it was still resolving how the WEEE services would fit in with its existing contractual arrangements. The Authority runs 14 household waste recycling centres that are registered as DCFs for WEEE in the five council areas of Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and the Wirral.

The spokesman said the Authority was expecting to be signed up with a producer compliance scheme "prior to Christmas".

Solihull council in the West Midlands is still to begin the process of selecting a producer compliance scheme to clear WEEE from its registered DCF site at Bickenhill. A spokeswoman for the council told letsrecycle.com it would be putting a contract out to tender "very soon".

Warrington borough council said it was hoping to be signing up with a compliance scheme "in the very near future" to take WEEE at its three registered DCF sites.

North East Lincolnshire council is also still talking to compliance schemes about a possible link-up - via its waste management contractor Newlincs Ltd. Newlincs has set up a subsidiary called Grimsby Operations to handle the WEEE arrangements for its two community recycling centres under its 25-year waste contract with NE Lincolnshire.

Sharon Hunt, operations director at Newlincs, said she has set up an account with the Settlement Centre to cover the costs of removing household WEEE prior to a new contract with a producer compliance scheme being agreed for 2008.

She explained: "The contract we have with our fridge/freeze/tv reprocessor runs until the end of December 2007. We have set up a settlement account in order to be able to receive compensation for the costs incurred with effect from 1st July 2007. I am talking to several companies for the 2008 compliance period."