Environment Exchange to launch WEEE trading floor

Announcing the development today, Angus Macpherson, managing director of the Edinburgh-based Environment Exchange said that the trading floor will initially operate as a spot-market, and “will offer price transparency for evidence and bridge the gap between buyers and sellers”.

Under the UK's WEEE system, producer compliance schemes need to acquire evidence from approved authorised treatment facilities to show the waste electrical and electronic equipment has been recycled. Unlike PRN evidence, there is no marketplace, but instead the Department for Business and Enterprise (BERR) has set-up a Settlement Centre based in Glasgow.

The Glasgow-based centre explains that the “primary function of the Settlement Centre is to record evidence of WEEE treatment and to allow issuance and holdings of Evidence Notes to be monitored.”

The decision by the Environment Exchange to set up a marketplace for evidence is not thought to have been endorsed by BERR. Explaining the rationale behind his new service, Mr Macpherson told letsrecycle.com that in his view the official Settlement Centre is “exactly the same as the national packaging waste database – it is effectively a register of evidence notes, and is not actually a transaction facility.”

He added: “On the Settlement Centre there are bulletin boards, there is no transaction service, no bridging the gap between buyers and sellers, no ability to see the passage of money moving around the place, and no price transparency. We will provide all of those exactly in the same way as we do for the PRN market. As a commercial operation, we would not expected to be endorsed or otherwise by BERR, however, I am sure like the rest of those involved they will be grateful for the service we will provide.”

Launch

The Environment Exchange will be launching the WEEE service on April 9. Mr Macpherson explained: “We are launching the service then because compliance schemes will not know the first draft of their final obligation until 1 April, if they are lucky, and then they won't know their final obligations until May 1 and they have to comply by 31 May.”

And, he claimed that some compliance schemes are in favour of the creation of a marketplace: “We have had indications that they would like to see this in place.”

Costs to join the exchange will be £1,000 as an annual participation fee and trasactions in the first compliance period will be free – within this fee AATFs and AEs can receive an independent audit for one of their sites.

Mr Macpherson emphasised: “The exchange will not be determining the price or be a judgement of volume and the price lies with the market participants.”

The Environment Exchange, said Mr Macpherson, will also be willing to provide a management service for any transactions agreed on the BERR-backed settlement centre.