The WEEE Directive, which is expected to be implemented into UK law by 2004, will require a significant part of electrical waste components and casing to be either recycled or recovered. Producers – that includes manufacturers and retailers are required to meet the costs of recovery or recycling as well as collection of the WEEE waste.
Currently the FRN collect such waste directly or in conjunction with local authorities, some of which are piloting a collection scheme by planning ahead for some of the demands the WEEE Directive may require. However, once the producer pays element of the Directive kicks in, producers will shoulder the costs of collecting from civic amenity sites to the FRN facilities, which will occur everyday.
“Bays for different sorts of WEEE waste will have to be set-up at civic amenity sites and we’ll collect from there everyday as these will be a busy source of WEEE waste,” said Craig Anderson, the FRN’s development manager.
The FRN has plans to launch a network of ten re-use centres, which will help secure up to 300,000 domestic appliances such as washing machines or televisions for recycling.
Regular collection from local authority sites will help relieve storage burdens that many local authority officers have expressed concerns over in regards storing WEEE waste at civic amenity sites. And, by securing a direct supply of appliances from local authorities and industry the FRN hopes to treble the amount of donations it receives for reconditioning from 160,000 currently donated by members of the public.
The new plan, named “Appliance Re-use and Recycling in the Community” (ARRC) is funded by a 197,734 grant from the Hanson Environment Fund, with support from the Department of Trade and Industry and the BOC Foundation.
All of the end refurbished goods from the charity will go to guaranteed end markets of “people in need” who can not afford to purchase new electrical equipment.
Mr Anderson said: “Purchasing new domestic appliances such as washing machines, fridges and cookers, is for many people out of the question. Building a network of high quality facilities will ensure a supply of high quality appliances reaches those members of the UK public who need them most.”
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