BERR publishes draft WEEE Regulations

The draft Regulations were issued today (February 6), alongside an impact assessment of the plans, as appendices to the original consultation document which was published in December 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story).

They outline exactly how the government plans to bring about a number of changes to the WEEE system, in particular in relation to how producer compliance schemes (PCS) are approved and how they look to meet their members' obligations, with the aim of reducing schemes' reliance on last minute evidence trading.

In particular, the revised document sees a number of changes to part seven, the process by which schemes are approved.

This includes an end to annual approval of schemes, where it instead states that “for schemes approved under these regulations as at 1st January 2010 their approval will remain in force unless it is withdrawn for any reason under regulation 44.”

And, the draft Regulations also outline the proposed two-stage approval process, based on schemes being given “provisional approval” and “final determination”.

Operational plans

Reflecting changes to how schemes' operational plans are scrutinised, an additional condition of approval is requiring that: “The operator of that scheme provides the appropriate authority with an updated operational plan containing the information set out in Part 3 of Schedule 7 in relation to each of the next three compliance periods on or before the 31st August of each year in respect of which the approval remains in force.”

The draft revised Regulations also include changes to the wording of paragraphs on the system for schemes to report the quarterly amounts of WEEE recycled on behalf of their members.

And, they also specify amendments to Part 8 – the approval of authorised treatment facilities (AATFs) and exporters.

Outlining specific reuse, recycling and recovery targets for WEEE that is treated at an AATF, the revisions include specific goals, based on the weight of different categories of WEEE.

These include for gas discharge lamps, where they state that AATF must achieve “at least 80% reuse and recycling of components, materials and substances by the average weight in tonnes of the lamps.”

Impact assessment

The impact assessment that has also been added to the consultation states that it is “not possible” to quantify the costs or benefits of the proposed changes at the moment.

However, it also said: “Costs are expected to be reduced from current levels because of the intended streamlining of the UK's WEEE system.”

And, it added: “A more effective WEEE system in the UK should lead to increased levels of WEEE being separately collected and recycled to the benefit of the environment.”

DTS

It does, however, consider the implications of some of the possible changes to the distributor take-back system, which is currently operated by Valpak.

It noted that if approval of the DTS was to be open-ended and it was only required to produce an annual report, the cost “is expected to be less than the costs of undertaking a procurement exercise to appoint a DTS every three years, as is in essence required under the current UK WEEE system.”