The European Directive sets outs targets for the recycling and recovery of electrical equipment. For IT and Telecommunications equipment, which is mainly used in businesses, the targets for 2008 are 65% by weight recycled and a total of 75% to have some value recovered. The Industry Council of Electronic Equipment Recycling has estimated that of the one million tonnes of WEEE produced in the UK each year 39% is IT equipment.
An amendment to the original Directive allocates producer responsibility for the financing of the collection and recycling of WEEE from businesses on a like-for-like basis on new sales (see letsrecycle.com story). This means that businesses who do not replace their equipment will be liable for the cost of disposing of waste electronics correctly.
Dr Mark Downs, head of recycling policy at the department of trade and industry, said: “The current amendment means producers will only have responsibility if there is a new sale from August next year.”
He added: “One of the things the government is asking in its consultations is 'who should be responsible for recycling business equipment that isn't replaced?' The general consensus seems to be that it should be the last owner, which means a balance sheet liability for businesses.”
Dr Downs also warned delegates at the Technology, Environment, Corporate conference organised by Brother UK yesterday, that businesses who import their own IT equipment from outside the EU will become the 'producer' under the directive and will become financially liable for its recycling when it needs to be disposed. He encouraged businesses to think ahead in its procurement of IT and telecommunications equipment in order to prepare for the possible costs of its end of life disposal.
The second consultation paper by the DTI on the WEEE Directive is due to be published in the late autumn and will include specific options for its implementation in the UK. The Directive must be translated into UK law by August 2004 and comes into full force in August 2005.
Commercial target
ICER director Clare Snow, speaking at Kyocera Mita's Green Card annual conference yesterday, said that businesses are likely to face tough collection targets when the WEEE Directive comes into force. She said: “The target for commercial WEEE is likely to be 100%. It isn't written anywhere in the Directive that it will be 100%, but (because of the government's implementation plan) it will be 100%.”
Ms Snow added: “Although the Directive doesn't say it, it is very likely that there will be a Duty of Care on commercial end users to ensure their products are recycled.”
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