BIS outlines final WEEE target for 2014

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has informed producer compliance schemes of the total tonnage of WEEE that they will be required to collect in 2014.

Schemes are obligated to collect 490,000 tonnes of WEEE in 2014, around 15,289 tonnes higher than the total amount collected in 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story). Consequently, WEEE collection rates will have to increase by 3% compared to 2013, if the target is to be met.

Targets have also been set for each category of electronic equipment based upon the growth or decline in tonnage of WEEE of that type collected during the previous 12 months. According to BIS, this method is more likely to reflect the most realistic volume of WEEE available.

As a result, compliance schemes obligated to collect WEEE streams for which tonnages are declining such as display equipment where products are becoming lighter and therefore less WEEE is available will be required to collect less material than in previous years.

Meanwhile, compliance schemes collecting on behalf of producers of EEE which is being collected in greater volumes including small mixed WEEE and large household appliances, will be given increasing targets.

In the guidance note on the targets, BIS explained why it had opted to set the targets based on WEEE collected during the previous 12 months, rather than as an average of the three previous years, as had also been considered.

Trends

The Department stated: For most categories of WEEE, a positive or negative trend in the volume collected over the last six years can be identified. Therefore using the three year moving average of WEEE collected in order to set targets for individual categories will in some cases be inappropriate.

For example, the volume of display equipment has fallen rapidly since its peak in 2011. Therefore the three year average of this category is significantly higher than the quantity collected last year. For other categories the volume of WEEE collected has grown in the last year, suggesting that perhaps more WEEE can be collected than the average amount. Therefore, there was scope to transfer tonnes across the categories in order to reach a fairer and more achievable outcome.

Some changes have been made to the collection targets from a provisional version published for consultation this month (see letsrecycle.com story), with the targets for large household appliances and small mixed WEEE increased from originally planned levels, while the target for cooling appliances has been reduced.