It said that the service was needed to “relieve the public of both hefty fees imposed by local authorities for picking up obsolete WEEE goods as well as the inconvenience of driving heavy items to the local tip”.
Currently, some household WEEE is taken by householders and some collectors to CA sites, from where producer compliance schemes pay for its collection, treatment and recycling to fulfil their members' obligations under the WEEE Directive.
Through this system and the take-back of goods when new products are delivered to households, the UK has so far comfortably met its national target of collecting 4kg per head of population of household WEEE in 2007. In that year the eventual collection total was in the region of 6kg per head.
But, Midex's general manager, Chris Spooner, told letsrecycle.com today that, compared to the large amount of WEEE that could be collected for recycling, “not a lot of WEEE goes to the civic amenity sites.”
He added: “There's a lot of eager public and they either a) cannot or b) cannot be bothered to take it to a CA site.”
When asked whether the WEEE collected by Midex's door-to-door system would be sold onto producer compliance schemes looking to meet their members' recycling targets, Mr Spooner said: “I don't know yet.”
WEEECollect.it
The Midex WEEE and batteries house-to-house collection service, called WEEECollect.it, involves the company leafleting an area to tell residents when they will be passing through with a team of dedicated drivers and vehicles.
Householders can then leave WEEE and batteries outside in their driveway or in their doorway on the designated date, making sure that the items are accompanied by a signed form giving Midex permission to collect them.
The service is able to collect all WEEE, with the exception of fridges and fluorescent tubes, and, its website explains that, alongside a free scheduled collections once every three months, it will offer a one-off special collection for £25.
Commenting on initial levels of interest in the initiative, Mr Spooner said: “We have been absolutely bowled over by the response we have been receiving from the public.
“It's incredible to see people standing outside waiting for the arrival of our van. It's rather like being the original rag and bone man,” he added.
Targets
Mr Spooner did not reveal how much the service had collected so far, but confirmed that it did have targets in place for WEEE, but not for batteries.
The company plans to roll out the service nationwide in stages, with the aim of covering every household in major towns and cities with leafleting and collection.
As a result, it said it expects to create 1,200 jobs by the end of the year, both for leaflet droppers and full-time van drivers, and also anticipated opening new premises.
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