According to SWEEEPs managing director Patrick Watts, the UK does not have the infrastructure to cope with a large influx of televisions sent for recycling as a result of the digital switchover. However, SWEEEP itself has acquired extra land at its Kent site which has been permitted for television storage to help deal with the increasing volumes of televisions, so increasing capacity by about 40%.
Several, WEEE recyclers are reporting vast increases in the number of televisions being disposed of as residents upgrade their sets. Kent-based SWEEEP has seen a 30% increase in the amount of televisions being recycled since the start of 2012.
Increase
Elsewhere, waste management firm Veolia said it has seen an increase of around 2,222 extra televisions per month being deposited at civic amenity sites in Birmingham, over the three month period leading up to the switchover following similar surges in areas such as Nottinghamshire, Merseyside and Sheffield.
The company is beginning to see similar increases in London, following the capitals switch to the digital signal on April 18.
SWEEEP is calling on the Environment Agency to provide greater flexibility and support to enable the sector to deal with the surge in the number of sets being received. In particular the company is calling for the Agency to consent to exemptions to environmental permits concerning WEEE to allow the temporary storage of material in warehouses so that all the television sets received can be kept for recycling.
Permitting
Patrick Watts, SWEEEP Kuusakoskis managing director, said: The issue is the number of televisions coming through in such a short period of time. The infrastructure can cope with the normal drip of defunct TV equipment, however the switchover is turning this drip into an electronic tsunami.
We need the Environment Agency to allow the temporary storage of material in warehouses to enable all televisions to be recycled. However, securing the license involves a lot of red tape and if this isnt fast tracked, then the time will have passed and well be left with a the TV equivalent of the fridge mountain.
Under current environmental permitting regulations, licences are required to store WEEE for a maximum duration of up to three months, if recovery is to take place elsewhere and if it is stored in an environmentally sound environment that does not hinder reuse or recycling.
[…] recent years, it was reported that several WEEE recyclers, including those dealing in television sets, have seen an increase of up to 30 percent, leading to the need for temporary storage when they […]