The WEEE challenge for local authorities

Since WEEE legislation was introduced five years ago, local authorities have experienced massive changes in the way waste electrical items are handled and accounted for. Firstly, the resulting loss of a revenue stream for a waste they used to manage has been an issue for local authorities. And the new legislation itself has for many been a huge logistical and regulatory burden, only lessened by the increase in the number of compliance schemes which promise to take away some of the pain and simplify the process.

At the same time, electrical and electronic items have become more and more sophisticated which is set to continue as technologies develop. This too is influencing how we deal with WEEE, leading to new practices, new technological advances and a greater willingness to do the right thing. For example, in 2007 WEEE reuse was virtually non-existent. However, reuse is quickly being acknowledged as the obvious first choice for processing WEEE. According to WRAPs own research almost a quarter of WEEE should be reusable.

Obligation

This inevitably puts a greater obligation on compliance schemes to engage more with the entire supply chain to ensure WEEE is handled ethically and environmentally. This means local authorities need to be more challenging of their contracted compliance schemes to ensure they work in closer partnership with all aspects of the supply chain. They should be asking is the right thing happening to my WEEE? Where is it going and what is happening to it when it gets there?

With 1.2 million tonnes of WEEE put onto the market each year, and only half of million tonnes being recycled, what is happening to the remaining 700,000 tonnes? It should be the responsibility of compliance schemes to know the answers to these kinds of questions. Ultimately, WEEE is a valuable resource that needs to be dealt with in a responsible way. In an ideal world, we should be re-using as much of it as possible and recycling whatever is left. This reuse and recycling model is substantially more beneficial to both the environment and the community than traditional methods of handling WEEE waste.

Unfortunately the WEEE Directive Recast failed to include any specific reuse targets. However, that should not stop us from trying to do the right thing with WEEE, which of course should include reuse as part of the mix. Certainly at EnvironCom were already achieving 15% reuse and have plans to increase this to 30% in the very near future.
So the challenge for local authorities as WEEE gets more sophisticated isnt about it becoming more complicated and more of a burden. The true challenge for local authorities is about ensuring that the guardians of the process, the compliance schemes themselves, are doing the right thing with their WEEE every step of the way.