WEEE producers face “unnecessary” costs if complying alone

That is the warning from Hewlett Packard, whose WEEE programme manager for the UK, Dr Kirstie McIntyre, believes that producers with a minimum take-back obligation for waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) would benefit from joining a compliance scheme.

” If a company joins a compliance scheme they pay a fixed rate, but if you comply individually there is no fixed price. How do you budget for that?“
– Kirsty McIntyre, Hewlett Packard
Dr McIntyre said: “Do producers with small obligations really want to go it alone? Companies will have to register themselves, do their own reporting and then go out and get their own compliance whichever way it is deemed that they do that.”

Companies that have a small obligation for collecting household WEEE are not necessarily small businesses. Some large producers may have a small household WEEE obligation, mainly supplying equipment to the business-to-business market requirements of the new regulations are not as troublesome.

Budget
Dr McIntyre questioned how companies would budget if they are intending on complying alone. She told letsrecycle.com: “If a company joins a compliance scheme they pay a fixed rate, but if you comply individually there is no fixed price. How do you budget for that?

“It seems that these companies will be giving themselves unnecessary costs and unnecessary hassles, which small businesses certainly try to avoid,” she added.

The government is currently looking into a system which would we see large producers collect 100% of the WEEE and small producers pay them for their market share.

Dr McIntyre said this system would not be necessary if all producers were part of compliance schemes, although she noted that the UK government would not be willing to make joining a compliance scheme compulsory.