Northern Compliance, the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) producer compliance scheme had its approval to continue to operate as a scheme withdrawn in January 2019 by the Environment Agency for failing to meet its targets in 2017 and then failing to pay a compliance fee as an alternative means of compliance.
Under the Regulations, Producer Compliance Schemes are responsible for financing the overall household WEEE collection target on behalf of their members, based on their market share.
Compliance fee
This can either be done through the physical collection of WEEE, trading among schemes who have carried out collections, or through payment of a compliance fee as an alternative means of compliance.
Northern Compliance, which maintains its innocence in the case, reasons that it did not pay the fee because it is challenging the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) over the validity of the methodology used in setting the fee.
Court documents published by the Environment Agency following a freedom of information request state that the scheme’s total shortfall stood at over 2,268 tonnes, and its unpaid fee is estimated to have stood at close to a £1.1 million fee.
The freedom of information request reveals that the company is due to appear at Newcastle upon Tyne Magistrates’ Court on 27 June to face the charges.
When contacted by letsrecycle.com, the company has declined to comment due to the ongoing proceedings.
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