FRN to launch national WEEE database

The database, called the WEEE Tracking System, would be used to track waste equipment from collection to re-use or recycling.

Already collecting around 300,000 fridges each year under Ozone Depleting Substances regulations, the FRN is looking to become an important player in the WEEE sector.

The FRN is developing the database, in partnership with Basingstoke-based DataPro Software, producers of the local authority software StreetScene. The project has received funding from the Landfill Tax Credits Scheme via the Hanson Environment Fund, with support from the DTI and the BOC Foundation.

The WEEE Directive, set to be in force in the UK by August 2004, makes producers responsible for the treatment of end of life electrical items collected separately from household waste. A complex paper trail is expected as obligations are carried out, and FRN hopes its WEEE Tracking System will cope with this administrative burden.

The national co-ordinating body for about 300 furniture and domestic appliance re-use and recycling organisations, the FRN accounts for about 47,000 tonnes of material recycled each year.

Craig Anderson, development manager for the FRN, said: “The community re-use sector should no longer be seen as the &#39c;herry-picker' of discarded household products, but as a viable and extremely professional collector of all WEEE, with the capacity to clear your sites and deliver a WEEE compliant service.”

The WEEE Tracking System is now being trialled at two of the FRN regional sites and one of its refrigeration collection services. The software aims to track equipment from civic amenity sites or collection points, through sorting centres and on to the re-use or specialist recycler routes.

Expansion
The FRN has already produced a “WEEE compliant national standard” for appliance re-use and recycling, and has conducted trials in several areas across the country. The Network believes the results of its trials mean that by replicating its systems on a national scale, the UK would be collecting 9.5kg of waste electronics per inhabitant, compared to the current national average of 7kg. The first WEEE Directive target is for 4kg per inhabitant.

Over the next three years, the FRN aims to set up “at least” 35 dedicated regional sorting centres (“Appliance Re-use and Recycling in the Community” centres) to process waste electronics. This is despite the fact that UK regulations are unlikely to favour re-use of items rather than recycling.