The timescale was emphasised today by Claire Snow, director of ICER, the Industry Council on Electronics Recycling who was addressing a local authority seminar in Birmingham.
Ms Snow said that a key issue is “whether householders are going to have to separate their waste electrical equipment from other waste. If they do then local authorities will have to provide systems to collect this.”
She predicted that if householders were required to sort waste under the directive, it is more than likely that the government would expect local authorities rather than manufacturers to provide the collection service.
But, Ms Snow also said that civic amenity sites could have big role to play whatever is decided. “For CA sites there is a decision to be made as to whether there would be sufficient facilities for collecting electrical goods. Perhaps if CA sites were used these could be supported by extra skips and banks in a council area.”
To help work out the likely capacity of CA sites to handle electrical goods, LARAC, the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee, has teamed up with ICER using Biffaward Landfill Tax credits to research the topic.
Rubbish police
Championing the work of ICER, Ms Snow said: “We are the only ones who are trying to work out what will happen in the local authority side of things.”
Ms Snow appeared to be endorsing the use of civic amenity sites ahead of separate kerbside collections, warning of the need for “rubbish police” if householders were required to separate electrical items.
CA sites might be a cheaper option for the manufacturers to support and this could be one reason why ICER is keen on this route. However, Ms Snow told letsrecycle.com that the organisation was still looking at the matter. “A CA site solution could work for some people, but the elderly person who could not get to the CA site or someone who did not have a car would need the equipment collected.”
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