Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (2002/96/EC)

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the developed world (1). The UK produces approximately 1 million tonnes of household electrical equipment as waste each year (2) which counts for around 15% of Europe's total electronic and electrical equipment waste (3).

Many of these items of electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) contain hazardous materials such as heavy metal. If this EEE is landfilled, incinerated or recovered without any pre-treatment it has the potential to contaminate the air, water and soil. The EU has adopted two Directives to try to tackle the issues; these are Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment and Directive 2002/95/EC on restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS) (4). The aim of the WEEE Directive is to reduce the quantity of waste from electrical and electronic equipment and increase its re-use, recovery and recycling (4). The RoHS directive aims to try and eliminate the use of hazardous substances such as mercury, lead and cadmium in new EEE.

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In the UK the Regulations which implemented the WEEE Directive came in to force on the 2 January 2007. In the Republic of Ireland the WEEE directive was implemented in August 2005 by the Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations) 2005. The RoHS Directive was implemented in the UK and the Republic of Ireland on the 1 July 2006 (5 &6).

WEEE Directive and Regulations

The table below shows the ten categories of EEE which are covered by the WEEE Regulations and examples of the products which fall into each of the categories (7):

 Categories Examples of products  
 1. Large household appliances Large cooling appliances, Refrigerators, Freezers 
 2. Small household appliances Toasters, Fryers, Scales
 3. IT and telecommunications equipment Notepad computers, Printers, Copying equipment
 4. Consumer equipment Radio sets, Television sets, Video cameras
 5. Lighting equipment Straight fluorescent lamps, Compact fluorescent lamps
 6. Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large-scale stationary industrial tools) Drills, Saws, Sewing machines
 7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment Electric trains or car racing sets, Hand-held video game consoles, Video games
 8. Medical devices (with the exception of all implanted and infected products) Radiotherapy equipment, Cardiology, Dialysis
 9. Monitoring and control instruments Smoke detector, Heating regulators, Thermostats
 10. Automatic dispensers Automatic dispensers for solid products, Automatic dispensers for money

Who is affected?

The legislation affects any producers of WEEE, in the Regulations a producer is defined as anyone who (7);

  1. Manufactures and sells EEE under their own brand
  2. Resells under their own brand equipment produced by other suppliers, a reseller not being regarded as the "producer" if the brand of the producer appears on the equipment,
  3. Imports or exports of electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis into a member State

Any EEE produced from 13 August 2005 falls under the legislation. If the EEE being discarded was purchased before the 13 August 2005 and it is not being replaced with equivalent EEE, then the transfer of the WEEE to an approved authorised treatment facility (AATF) must be paid for. If the producers or retailers do not comply with the regulations then they can be fined (3). The principle duty holder is the manufacturer/importer of EEE (the producer pays principle) who is responsible for funding the collection/recovery/disposal from domestic users and also commercial users (free of charge). All producers (which includes manufacturers, importers and distance sellers) have to register with a Producer Compliance Scheme and report the amount of EEE placed on the UK market.

Producers Responsibility includes:

  • A producer must mark any EEE that they put on the market with a crossed out wheeled bin symbol (7)
  • The producers must be signed up with a producer compliance scheme (PCS) if in the UK (3)
  • The PCS will be registered with the appropriate agencyv
  • In Ireland the producers must self comply or join an approved compliance scheme and must be registered with the WEEE Register Society
  • The enforcement of the WEEE regulations is carried out by the appropriate environmental regulatory agency

The compliance schemes will operate on the producer's behalf; they will (3);

  1. produce a quarterly report on sales of EEE, this will include total weights for each category of WEEE
  2. maintain records and make them available for six years
  3. mark new products with a producer identifier and a crossed out wheelie bin symbol

It must be ensured that the separately collected WEEE is managed by an AATF.

Distributors

In the regulations a distributor means any person who provides EEE on a commercial basis to the party who is going to use it (7). The distributors have to either (8);

  1. Offer an in-store take-back scheme where householders can return their WEEE for free of charge
  2. Or they have the option of joining a Distributor Take Back Scheme'. Joining the schemes mean they will have to contribute to a fund, which will pay for a network of Designated Collection Facilities.

A target is set by the EU directive on WEEE, by 31 December 2006 a rate of separate collection of at least 4 kg on average per inhabitant per year of waste electrical and electronic equipment from private households must be achieved (9). The Republic of Ireland scheme for WEEE has been in place longer than in the UK. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government reported that in 2006 each person recycled 7.4 Kgs of household WEEE (10). It is thought that the UK recycling rate was above the set target prior to the implementation of WEEE (11)

References

  1. Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) http://www.epa.ie/whatwedo/sustain/mgt/weee/
  2. Department for Business Enterprise and Regulator Reform, Factsheets on WEEE,

    http://www.berr.gov.uk/sectors/sustainability/weee/Factsheets/page41148.html

  3. Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (July 2007), Postnote, Electronic WEEE http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/postpn291.pdf
  4. Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Frequently asked questions on WEEE, http://www.epa.ie/whatwedo/sustain/mgt/weee/weeefaqs/#d.en.12449
  5. Waste Management (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations 2005 (Republic of Ireland)

    http://www.weeeireland.ie/retailers-codeOfPractice.htm

  6. Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Restriction on use of hazardous substances - RoHS, http://www.epa.ie/whatwedo/sustain/mgt/rohs/
  7. Statutory Instruments (2006), No. 3289, Environmental Protection, The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006, http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/uksi_20063289_en.pdf
  8. Environment Heritage service, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/waste/regulation-and-legislation/regulations_weee.htm
  9. DIRECTIVE 2002/96/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 January 2003 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

    http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2003/l_037/l_03720030213en00240038.pdf

  10. Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government, Recycling Rate for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Continues to grow http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Waste/WEEE/News/MainBody,15428,en.htm
  11. Environment Agency (EA) Frequently Asked Questions about Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). http://www.environmentagency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/weee_faqs_1487261_2028467.pdf