This comes despite this month's change in designation of certain kinds of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) that makes them “hazardous” in the eyes of European hazardous waste regulations.
New guidance issued by Defra to councils and industry this week confirmed that mixed municipal waste is not hazardous waste, including material collected from civic amenity sites.
In a short guidance notice, local authorities were informed of how to deal with waste electrical and electronic equipment now that the Hazardous Waste Regulations 2005 have come into force, until the WEEE Directive is implemented in the UK – probably early in 2006.
But, the guidance explained that staff do have to treat WEEE from municipal waste as hazardous if it has been seperated, “this includes items of WEEE separated out at the civic amenity/household waste sites, or during bulky household waste collections,” it added.
Care
However, it added: “Local authorities should ensure they are complying with the duty of care and know where their municipal waste, including any separately collected WEEE, is going for recovery or disposal.”
Defra also indicated that not all electronic equipment is necessarily waste and so in some cases would not be subject to waste handling controls.
“Where a householder or other producer has separated out items of electronic equipment that are reusable – second hand goods that are fully functioning or in need of minor repair – and are passed on to someone for the same purpose then they are probably not waste,” the guidance stated.
When the WEEE Directive is implemented it will place additional requirements on producers and retailers of electronic equipment – who will have to ensure the take-back of WEEE and its treatment to the standards set out in the Directive. However, this is unlikely to be implemented until 2006
Letsrecycle.com is holding a special conference on the way forward for waste electronics on October 12. For more details see the letsrecycle.com events page
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