The DTI said producers were to set out the operations of the National Clearing House in the government's final consultation on the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive published on Friday (see letsrecycle.com story).
Eight multi-national companies today revealed their plans for the possible development of the National Clearing House in a newly published working paper. Apple, Electrolux, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung Electronics, Gillette, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Sony Corporation joined to form the Strategic Electronic Waste Policy Forum to address the issue.
”The government has made registration to the clearing house a condition of selling products within the UK“
– Dr Kirstie McIntyre, Hewlett-Packard
Speaking to letsrecycle.com today, members of the Forum said that the Clearing House's central role would be to manage the data and allocating waste equipment to producers. It will not be responsible for the actual collection and recycling of equipment, allowing companies to join independent compliance schemes or to set up their own systems.
Registration
Khush Marolia, Gillette's environmental affairs manager for Europe, explained that under the Forum's new model, the government would maintain strategic control of the clearing house and would have the ultimate ownership of the data it collects.
He added that all companies with producer responsibilities under the WEEE Directive would have to register with the clearing house, including the business-to-business sector and companies organising their own recycling schemes.
“There should not be any obligation to join a compliance scheme and if you do not join a scheme you should not be disadvantaged,” Mr Marolia said.
However, there is likely to be a sliding scale of registration fees, so as not to put a disproportionate burden on smaller companies, he said. And, the Forum has worked out a possible equation for calculating market share which takes into account both how much business-to-business equipment a manufacturer makes and any take-back they offer for customers.
Dr Kirstie McIntyre, WEEE programme manager at Hewlett-Packard, welcomed the DTI's latest consultation paper saying it gives more support to the clearing house. She said: “The government has made registration to the clearing house a condition of selling products within the UK.”
Mark Dempsey of the Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Waste Group, which co-ordinates the manufacturers' group, said: “The National Clearing House provides government and industry with a mechanism for strategic control to ensure that all WEEE is collected, treated and recycled according to UK and EU standards, whilst allowing for producers to meet their obligations through competitive tendering for collection, treatment and recycling services.”
Click here for the full copy of the Strategic Electronic Waste Policy Forum's working paper on the National Clearing House.
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