The Department of Trade and Industry yesterday announced that “WEEE Day” would be pushed back once again, from the start of January to June 2006. The decision was taken to allow an adequate collection network for electronic waste to be put together for WEEE (see letsrecycle.com story).
” The time gained must now be used to get proper clarity in the regulations.“
– John Cridland, CBI
The Confederation of British Industry has backed the delay, calling it the “right decision”, and has now called for the extra time to be used to agree clear guidelines.
John Cridland, CBI deputy director-general, said: “The time gained must now be used to get proper clarity in the regulations, and to ensure that all parties – manufacturers, retailers, the Environment Agency and local authorities – have sufficient notice of them to prepare.”
The Engineering Employer's Federation – which has been campaigning for a speedy implementation of the WEEE Directive – said that in the absence of clear implementation plans from government, it believes there is now no other option than postponement.
EEF director general Martin Temple said: “We have been concerned for some time that this legislation would not be ready in time or, worse still, that it’s implementation would be rushed. As such, the government has taken the only sensible option open to it and this
breathing space will give time to plan properly for implementation.”
Clearing House
Intellect – the trade association for the UK hi-tech industry – has also backed the delay to producer responsibility. But, Intellect wants the government to take the time to re-consider the option of a national clearing house to organise responsibility for collection and recycling of WEEE.
”We consider it even more vital that the Environment Agency and government departments pay attention to industry's calls for a national clearing house scheme.“
– John Higgins, Intellect
John Higgins, director general of Intellect, said: “As we now move to implementation of the WEEE regulation we consider it even more vital that the Environment Agency and government departments pay attention to industry's calls for a national clearing house scheme.
“Manufacturers of WEEE products consider a national clearing house scheme to be the only viable option. It will enable them to effectively spread the financial load, thereby limiting the ultimate cost felt by the consumer,” he added.
Compliance schemes
Producer compliance schemes have also backed the delay in the start of producer responsibility, with the general feeling that it would be more important to get things right than rush into a system that may not work.
Valpak's head of WEEE compliance Mike Sadler said: “”It makes sense to delay the implementation, obviously from our members point of you it is frustrating that the start date has been put back six months. However a workable system over the medium term is the priority and they support this fully..”
” There are several issues that require clarification to enable a workable solution to be up and running from June 2006. “
– Philip Morton, REPIC
However, he added: “We are still working to the original timetable and we believe we are in a strong position to become the first accredited compliance scheme.”
Philip Morton, chief executive of REPIC, pointed out that there is still much to be done. He said: “We are in agreement with the government that a January 2006 implementation would have been premature.
“There are several issues that require clarification to enable a workable solution to be up and running from June 2006. We look forward to working with government to achieve this goal,” Dr Morton added.
Although industry has supported the delay, there was some surprise that the government decided to push the implementation date back as far as June. Transform's Phil Conran said: “I assumed if there was to be a delay it would be pushed back until March to come in line with the German date, especially with pressure from Europe.”
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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