Steven Andrews, of the Recycling Policy Unit at the Department of Trade and Industry, speaking at a RAL conference, explained that the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive will require the take back of all white goods, including fridges and freezers.
Many retailers already take back most large electrical equipment on delivery of new goods, but the service for fridges and freezers came to a halt because of European regulations (see the letsrecycle.com legislation section).
RAL, an Anglo-German quality assurance association for the de-manufacture of refrigeration equipment, is concerned with setting standards for waste fridge processing and especially the collection of CFCs.
RAL has 16 UK members, including 12 local authorities and the waste management company SITA, which joined the association last week.
Civic amenity sites have been put forward as possible collection points for WEEE but Mr Andrews conceded that these are often poorly situated and have no spare space for extra boxes. He explained that as part of the DTI’s consultation process, focus groups of various different affected partied have been convened e.g. local authorities, retailers, manufacturers and the decommissioning industry, to discuss issues like that of the CA sites.
At the conference, held in Peterborough, Mr Andrews also gave an idea of the kind of costs the WEEE Directive might inflict on the UK. He said: “The additional costs of the WEEE Directive are estimated between 190 million and 390 million per year in the UK.”
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