Government reveals plans for WEEE consumer campaign

While six kilogrammes is a good start, its not good enough, we can do a lot better

The government has announced that it will make a big push this summer to increase consumer awareness of waste electronics and electrical equipment recycling to help boost the WEEE recycling rate.

Initial figures for the six months to December 31 2007 suggest that the UK is achieving a collection rate in the region of six kilogrammes per head of population, a figure that is well above the EU WEEE Directive's target for four kilograms (see letsrecycle.com story).

Speaking at the Recycling and Waste Forum 2008 in Birmingham, Tony Pedrotti, the director of sustainable development at the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), revealed that the government was aiming to increase the collection rate to 10 kilograms per head by the end of the year.

“While six kilogrammes is a good start, its not good enough, we can do a lot better,” he said, indicating that a conscious effort had been made not to increase consumer awareness of WEEE recycling until the collection and treatment network was in place.

“We're planning to do a big consumer-facing campaign in the summer of this year,” he explained.

Commenting on the general success of the first bout of WEEE reporting, Mr Pedrotti issued a positive assessment, stating that “we genuinely do believe that the components of the system are in place”.

He took issue with concerns that have been expressed by producer compliance schemes over swings in WEEE data published by the Environment Agency and amended deadlines for the submission of figures by schemes (see letsrecycle.com story).

He said: “PCSs, you have a job to do, make sure your evidence is there on the system; and the same goes for approved authorised treatment facilities.”

And, referring to the April 30 deadline for the submission of evidence, he added: “There are no excuses for it not being on within that deadline, if it isn't we will want to know why not.”

Data

Some delegates told letsrecycle.com that they were still concerned at data uncertainties and the working out of figures between the Settlement Centre, the Environment Agency and approved authorised treatment facilities.

The issue was raised in a presentation from Biffa recycling manager  Phil Conran, who heads up Biffa's producer compliance scheme Transform. Mr Conran reiterated his opinion that data uncertainties were making the situation difficult for PCS.

“All this revolves around data,” he explained. “Data inconsistencies can make it very hard to do planning around a timeline. There is confusion over the interpretation of data requirements and there's been a lot of difficulty in getting data onto the Settlement Centre that all parties agree with.”

Consultation

Earlier this week the European Union launched a consultation on a potential review of the WEEE Directive (see letsrecycle.com story), and Mr Petrotti indicated that the government would be encouraging industry opinions in formulating its own response. He urged companies to “play an active role”.

A warning was also issued to producers by one of the key agencies involved in the enforcement of the WEEE regulations in the UK.

Adrian Harding, a policy advisor at the Environment Agency, explained that the Agencies were working through lists of thousands of companies who might have responsibilities under the WEEE regulations, with 4,000 contacted so far.

He said: “We are actively tracking down producers that should be registered but aren't, and beginning to conclude that they haven't made a conscious effort to do so.”

Retailers

Awareness among retailers is also a pressing issue, according to Richard Barnish, the membership services manager for Valpak, who run the UK's only distributor takeback scheme for electronics and electrical equipment retailers.

He explained that a survey undertaken by his organisation had revealed that “there is a good awareness among specialist electrical retailers but not among small companies”.

And he also echoed Mr Pedrotti's concerns over consumer awareness, explaining that: “Retailers' general view was that among consumers there was little or no awareness of WEEE recycling.

“The general opinion was that a national campaign is needed,” he added. “When we do run a national campaign we need to think about what motivates consumers to recycle.”