The concerns about how the WEEE directive might end up being implemented surfaced on Monday (January 28) at an Institute of Wastes Management seminar in Northampton. Dr Jane Stratford, technical policy officer at the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Adrian Harding of the Environment Agency gave updates on the progress of standards and licensing requirements.
Adrian Harding said: “Fridges are just one tiny part of the WEEE directive – if we think we have problems now then we ain't seen nothing yet. We need to learn from this and have a slightly better run in to future legislation.”
The session also looked at government funding for fridge storage and how retailers can be encouraged to re-start their take-back collections. But Gary Simpson, of the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers, said that now retailers have stopped their take-back of fridges he feared that the rest of the network would collapse. “Contractors carried out take-back from the big retailers such as Dixons and Comet on a regional basis and the income they got from exporting fridges paid for the disposal of the rest of white goods. Fridges are also a box so you could fit in toasters and kettles for export. Now the take-back of fridges has collapsed it is only a matter of time before the rest of the take-back network collapses.”
Standards
The regulations came into force on January 1 2002, but potential recyclers are still waiting for the government to finalise the standards for recovery before investing in the necessary recycling equipment. While two of the major players in the field, Michael Baker Group of Companies and EMR have ordered fridge recycling units, Michael Baker, chairman of the eponymous group, yesterday called on the government to publish its finalised standards and said that this was holding back progress. He said: “If we can get the standards confirmed we can get fridges moving and get rid of the stock pile rather than worrying about storage.”
Mr Simpson also called on the government to set recovery standards and said: “Local authorities require certainty in what is expected of them and need, as a matter of urgency, firm detail on recovery standards.”
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