Retailers in talks with Welsh councils over WEEE network

The BRC had sent out a letter to local authorities across the whole of the UK asking them to be part of the retailers' collection network for waste electrical and electronic equipment.

” In Wales the BRC did not receive a good response from the initial letter (inviting councils to join the collection network)“
– Rachel Jowitt, WLGA
Although the BRC has said that 75% of the civic amenity sites have expressed an interest in being upgraded to accept WEEE, the Welsh local authorities have been far from keen, with some not even receiving the letter.

Rachel Jowitt, policy officer at the Welsh Local Government Association – which coordinated the meeting – said: “In Wales the BRC did not receive a good response from the initial letter, but some local authorities did not even receive the letter so there is a lot of uncertainty within the authorities.”

The Welsh councils, along with the Welsh Assembly, are now set to meet the BRC tomorrow in order to flesh out details of what the council's role would be.

“The BRC have been very flexible and have taken the councils views on boards. This is obviously a very tough task for them, this meeting should bring some conclusions to the matter,” said Ms Jowitt.

Decisions


Following the meeting, the councils are expected to come to decisions the following week. Ms Jowitt said that a policy statement is likely to be announced next week. “Some councils will sign up to the scheme others may not – we will know a lot more following this meeting,” she said.

The BRC has been set the task of setting up an “adequate collection network” for the collection of WEEE on behalf of retailers obligated under forthcoming recycling regulations. This is an alternative to offering in-store take-back which is not seen as a viable option.

An announcement on the winning bidder to run the retail compliance scheme is expected in August and the BRC has said that it hopes to start allocating funds to local authorities by September (see letsrecycle.com story).

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