Getting WEEE system right is vital, says minister

Members of the WEEE sector heard yesterday (May 1) that the government is working to ensure that it gets right new regulations around the recycling of waste electricals in order to reduce red tape in a way that is best for business.

The comments came from Michael Fallon, minister at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), who was speaking at Reshaping the WEEE Regulations, a conference looking at the proposed changes to the UKs WEEE system. The event was hosted by letsrecycle.com.

The conference also heard from BIS officials David Styles and Graeme Vickery (pictured below), who outlined changes being brought in to ensure the UK complies with the Recast Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. The options that the Department has put forward to reduce the burden on businesses required to comply with the legislation were also explained.

A consultation on the proposed changes was launched last month (see letsrecycle.com story) and Mr Fallon said comments from those within the sector were key to ensuring that the government got the new legislation right.

Mr Fallon said: We in government have a vital role to play particularly in getting the regulatory environment right. This will be crucial to stimulating strong sustainable and balanced economic growth and providing the right conditions for businesses to grow.

Getting it right is vital because we discard about 1.3 million tonnes of electrical equipment every year – a huge amount and it is growing rapidly. By recycling and reusing waste electricals, we can create a more sustainable economy. And there are very good reasons for that not least because it is estimated businesses could make significant savings in doing so but also because resources are becoming ever more scarce and, as a consequence, more valuable.

‘Level playing field’

The minister also commented that the changes were important to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses obligated to comply with the WEEE regulations, and to have a level playing field to drive investment and encourage innovation.

He said: Regulation can be an important tool as is the case with the WEEE Regulations. Get it right and we will have a level playing field that drives investment, stimulates innovation and ensures our European competitiveness. Crucially they will also ensure we meet our environmental objectives and comply with the obligations in the revised WEEE Directive.

It will also make an important contribution to the Red Tape Challenge, where we are reviewing existing regulations with a commitment to reduce overall burden of regulation by seeing which regulations should be scrapped, improved or saved, including the WEEE regulations.

Cost

The minister also commented that the proposals had been drawn up after concerns from producers of electrical equipment about the cost of compliance, adding that the Recast offered an opportunity to take action.

He added: Our biggest challenge is to ensure we meet our obligations in a way that does not place an unnecessarily heavy burden on businesses. We have listened carefully to views expressed by stakeholders and these have played a vital part in helping us to shape the set of proposals on which we now seek your comments.

With regard to the household WEEE system, we are specifically inviting your views on whether the current system needs to be changed and if so how. We are proposing three alternative systems for change and a do nothing option.

The ministers address was followed by a presentation by the Departments senior policy advisor on WEEE, Graeme Vickery, who outlined the four options for the future of the WEEE compliance system.

Options

Mr Vickery gave an explanation on each of the options which include: keeping the current system the same; introducing a single, national compliance scheme, which all obligated businesses would be required to sign up to; setting collection targets for schemes along with a compliance fee for schemes that fail to meet the target, and; a compulsory matching system for compliance schemes and collection facilities.

The proposals have been drawn up to bring the cost of compliance down, after concerns that the cost of compliance with the current system is far greater than the actual cost of recycling.

Commenting on the three proposals for change, Mr Vickery said that the Department currently favoured options three or four: mandatory collection targets or a DCF allocation system.

He said: According to our impact assessment, the three options represent net benefits over what we have at the moment. But, we want views on all four options and the government has not yet decided what it might do. What we do say at the moment, and largely as a consequence of the impact assessment, we are minded to pursue options three or four.

Proposals

Meanwhile, other changes highlighted by Mr Vickery included a de minimus obligation which would simplify compliance small producers of electrical equipment, and greater flexibility for local authorities around retaining ownership of certain WEEE streams.

The session also heard from Chris Grove, the environment and business senior advisor for the Environment Agency, who outlined ongoing work to bring the producer responsibility regimes for packaging waste, end-of-life batteries and WEEE more closely in line.

The consultation on the proposed changes to the WEEE system ends on June 21, and the government plans to publish its response within eight weeks.