WEEE evidence trading nears end

But an air of uncertainty still remains over whether a number of producer compliance schemes (PCS) can acquire sufficient evidence to meet their obligations before the deadline.

The situation is thought to focus on Electrolink, which holds contracts with the most civic amenity sites, and therefore has a large amount of surplus evidence, which will have to be sold to schemes that still require evidence to fulfil their obligations to allow the system to work as intended.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com today, Electrolink chief executive Barry Van Danzig explained that his scheme had contacted other PCS in a bid to seal deals for its surplus evidence.

“We have modified our agreement to make it easier for them to contract and they now have an absolutely clear route to compliance and no reasonable reason why they should not comply with the law,” he said.

Repic is one of the schemes that has previously sought to acquire evidence from Electrolink, and Dr Phil Morton, its chief executive, said that he could not comment ahead of the deadline for obtaining evidence but did confirm the scheme now has arrangements with 172 local authority sites.

There are some expectations that if all is not resolved on Monday then there could be further delays. The original deadline was June 1 but the environment agencies have said they will not take any action before June 16.

However, they have not said they will definitely take action after June 16, though BERR has warned that schemes that don't meet their obligations will face “vigorous enforcement action” (see letsrecycle.com story).

Some in the sector are thought to be of the opinion that, if any action is to be taken, it should happen as soon as possible after the deadline, to ensure that the concerns they have over just how the system has worked are brought to the governments' attention.

And, a number of key blue chip companies who are members of some of the compliance schemes that may still need to acquire evidence are thought to be paying especially close attention to the outcome of this final bout of trading, and any repercussions if schemes fall short of evidence.

Despite the late flurry of trading, other schemes have already declared that they have met their members' obligations with time to spare, including Valpak (see letsrecycle.com story).

Gloucestershire-based PCS Budget Pack has also submitted its declaration of compliance ahead of the deadline, and managing director Stephen Clark told letsrecycle.com that: “We have a secure evidence base that means we don't have to interact with adverse market conditions”

“We've procured evidence, but perhaps in a more sophisticated way, we have some very well-designed sustainable partnerships,” he added.

And, commenting on the difficulties faced between schemes, he said: “There's been immaturity in the marketplace, with some big schemes taking polar views and its things like that that need to be worked through”