BERR launches consultation on EU WEEE review

BERR expressed its misgivings as it launched a consultation last Thursday (April 9) to gather views which are expected to contribute to the UK's position EU discussions on review of both the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive.

A spokesperson for BERR said: “The UK welcomes the Commissions intention to strengthen the Directives, with further steps to limit the environmental impact of waste equipment.

“However, we are concerned that the WEEE proposals in particular do present some significant challenges for British businesses.”

In particular, the EC plans, which were originally published in December 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story), proposed that producers should be “encouraged” to finance all the costs faced by collection facilities in collecting WEEE.

Explaining that this could result in producers being either expected to directly fund the separate collection of WEEE or provide financial backing for kerbside collections, BERR asked for stakeholders' opinions on just what financial impact this could have, as well as its potential environmental benefit and impact on the levels of separately collected WEEE.

The EC also suggested that there should be a new variable WEEE collection target for EU member states, based on the amount of electrical equipment placed on the market, and not, as is currently the case, a set collection target of four kilograms per head, per year.

And, BERR has asked stakeholders, including producer compliance schemes and groups including the Local Government Association and LARAC, to comment on whether this change would “better reflect the differences in the market conditions of individual Member States”.

RoHS

With regards the RoHS Directive – which seeks to limit the use of hazardous substances in electrical equipment – BERR has asked for opinions on how best to define the scope of the Directive – for example with a possible definitive list of electrical equipment that is covered by RoHS.

And, it also asked for views on any potential expanding of the list of the substances that RoHS applies to.

Position

BERR has said the views it collects during the consultation, which runs until May 13, will help to shape the UK's negotiating position as the proposed reviews go through the European legislative process.

The department explained that it expected negotiations on the changes to take place in the European Council of Ministers and Parliament this year, with the new Directives “likely” to take effect in 2012.