The criticism from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) comes as the DTI's second consultation on the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive came to a close last week. Under the WEEE Directive retailers have a responsibility to offer free take-back services for household electronic goods or provide an equivalent service.
”There is no benefit to anyone or to the environment in throwing money into a government-created black hole. “
– Nigel Smith, BRC director of corporate social responsibility
The DTI had proposed that instead of requiring retailers to offer in-store take-back on WEEE, a fund of 10 million a year from 2004-2010 would be set up to finance alternative WEEE collection systems, such as using local authorities' civic amenity sites.
Although the BRC supported giving retailers the option of either providing take-back or contributing to a fund, it said the amount should not be set at a pre-determined value.
Nigel Smith, BRC director of corporate social responsibility, said: “The government believes that creating a lump sum of money is the answer to dealing with WEEE, but this obsession with money will lead to inefficient collection systems that fail to deliver the infrastructure the UK needs.”
Instead, the BRC wants a retail compliance scheme to be able to set up its own network, which it believes would be more cost-effective.
Mr Smith said: “We can develop a flexible, value for money scheme that will achieve the aims of the directive and benefit all – but we need the support of the Government to make this a success. There is no benefit to anyone or to the environment in throwing money into a government-created black hole.”
Councils
Under the DTI proposals, 5 million out of the 10 million retailer fund would be ring-fenced for local authorities for up-grades to take WEEE at their CA sites.
The Local Government Association also supported the setting up of a fund to support local authorities as they have no obligations under the Directive. But the LGA said that the 5 million fund for local authorities might not be enough.
In its response to the consultation, the LGA said: “It seems highly unlikely that the sum of 5-10 million annually will fund the establishment and management of a network of sites and the fund should not be capped.”
The Association pointed out that little work has gone into investigating the true costs of up-grading and managing CA sites to handle WEEE. It said: “The Network Recycling study put the cost of upgrading existing sites at 6m-12m. Also, this does not cover the ongoing management costs, nor does it reflect the potential costs involved with establishing and managing sites at retail parks, or extended or new CA sites.”
A spokeswoman for the LGA said: “It is almost impossible to put a figure on anything until we know what the network will look like.”
The DTI will now produce a report on the responses to the second consultation on the WEEE Directive. It is expected to publish the third and final consultation later in the spring, covering more specific proposals for legislation.
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