WEEE schemes warned of “watershed” in 2009

Any producer compliance scheme (PCS) which has been providing a service for waste electronic and electrical equipment since the first compliance period, in 2007, will be expected to apply to either the Environment Agency or SEPA for re-approval next year.

And, Mr Harding, the EA's policy adviser for producer responsibility, told letsrecycle.com on Friday that the re-approval process – which is expected to take place midway through 2009 – would represent a “crucial date” for schemes.

He explained that, at this point, PCS would have to be able to clearly demonstrate that, by the end of 2009, they would have found a balance between their ability to access evidence and being able to meet the obligation of their members.

“The real watershed is going to be when people come forward for re-approval and we're going to be even more rigorous that they've got plans that have a balance,” he said.

He added: “If you're planning to reapply, one of the things we'll take into account is the past record of compliance. What we'd expect is by the end of 2009 all schemes must be broadly in balance, by the middle of 2009 you must be moving towards being in balance.”

Trading

The 2007 compliance period was characterised by a large amount of last minute evidence trading and deal-making between several PCS as they sought to meet their members' recycling obligations (see letsrecycle.com story).

But, Mr Harding emphasised that “it was always intended that trading was at the margins”, and he explained that “we can't have a situation where everything is left to the last minute every year”.

The Environment Agency is currently in the process of reviewing PCS' operational plans, and Mr Harding said that eight of the 34 it has registered had been reviewed so far, adding that “most were good or satisfactory”.

He explained that “we'd like to get them done sooner or later, we certainly want to get them done this year,” adding that “the longer people have to correct any imbalance, the better”, and that they would prioritise schemes according to a number of criteria, “for example the degree to which people had to get involved in last-minute trading”.

However, he said that “what we can't do is point to schemes who are over-collecting and tell them you've got to give up sites,” explaining that this would be left to the way the market operates, and pointing out that “it would be hugely disrupting to local authorities”.

He added: “We recognise the realities of all of this; it will take time for people to divest themselves of sites. It could be that a scheme could downsize, could take on more sites, could enter into a formal agreement with another scheme – the key thing is to do it upfront, so it's formalised.”

Commenting on operational plans that had been reviewed, Mr Harding said: “The schemes we've looked at so far have more formalised agreements, some are taking on more sites, there's a small amount of transfer of sites.”

Mr Harding pointed towards the remaining unallocated civic amenity sites as having a part to play in helping PCS, adding that “we'd like those to find a home”.

Data

The 2007 compliance period was also characterised by issues with data, leading to delays in the publication of schemes' final obligations (see letsrecycle.com story).

“The first time around it was new for everybody, there were glitches with data,” Mr Harding acknowledged, adding: “There was a recognition that it was a learning curve.”

The EA has said that it will make an announcement later this year as to just how schemes' obligations will be calculated – either, as was the case last year, by linking their market share to the amount of evidence issued, or linking it to the total amount of WEEE reported as collected.

However, Mr Harding explained that the EA was working on issues such as schemes reporting WEEE as being in one category and treatment facilities classing it in another.

“We've been putting a lot of effort in this year to get a common understanding this year with schemes and other people,” he said.

“We hope the data will be more consistent as we move forward, so whichever method we choose as you move forward will give more or less the same figure,” he added.

And, as a result of this, he warned that “we're likely to be less flexible this year, deadlines ought to be fixed”.

New schemes

There are currently 35 PCS approved by the EA – including large schemes such as Repic, DHL, ERP, Transform, Veolia and Valpak – and five approved by SEPA – including Electrolink and WEEE Link, but Mr Harding revealed that three new schemes had recently been approved by the EA and another one by SEPA.

Explaining that the WEEE market was a “relatively easy” one to enter, Mr Harding also said that: “The advantage with the new schemes is that we can assess them with the benefit of hindsight, you need to make sure you have a sensible plan.”

While acknowledging that the system would be “easier to administer” if there were less than 40 schemes, he added that “at some stage you start to erode innovation and competitiveness,” pointing towards schemes dealing with just one or a few categories of WEEE or those with a few members.

And, he suggested that the re-approval process next year could also see some schemes chose to leave the system.

“I doubt all will want to continue,” he claimed. “The whole economic climate has changed; some will say that it isn't a core business, 'we thought it was a nice money-making business'”.

SEPA

Commenting on the situation with regards the five schemes it has registered a spokeswoman for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), said that their review of operational plans was “ongoing”, and they were “working closely with the Environment Agency to maintain consistency across the UK”.

While not revealing a timeline for taking any action relating to PCS over and under-collecting evidence, the spokeswoman told letsrecycle.com: “SEPA will approach schemes that have either over or under collected and task them to submit proposed action plans on how they will mitigate against the over/ under collection so that their operational plans are sufficiently viable to collect an amount of WEEE in relation to their obligations.”

And, with SEPA set to undertake its re-approval process next year like its EA counterparts, the spokeswoman explained that: “Schemes will be expected to present relatively accurate operational plans based on this data to ensure that they are collecting WEEE in line with their obligation without relying heavily on evidence trading.”