There are a number of laws and regulations that apply to electrical and electronic waste from businesses.
We provide documentation for all movement of WEEE and deliver quarterly reports to the Environment Agency (EA).
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations, fully introduced in July 2007, were set
up to increase the amount of Electrical and Electronic Equipment that was recycled instead of being land-filled.
Most of these regulations apply to the manufacturer or importer of the equipment but in particular your
business now has a duty to store, collect, treat, recycle and dispose of WEEE separately from other waste.
You must obtain and keep proof that the WEEE was given to a waste management company, and was treated and
disposed of in an environmentally sound way.
The WEEE regulations call for manufacturers and importers to provide recycling facilities for end-of-life
equipment. In most cases they do but what we are finding is that they may be reluctant to do this, and when
they do provide the service they expect you to either transport the equipment to a collection facility or
charge you if they do it.
You may find an independent recycler will be more willing to dispose of the WEEE
and in most cases be more economical than the manufacturer’s service.
Once the recycler has the WEEE he must use an agreed protocol to separate any hazardous materials and
recover the most raw materials it can to a minimum percentage. The recycler also has to allow for the
reuse of any equipment where practical.
Landfill Regulations
In October 2007, the Landfill Regulations were updated. The new regulations require that all waste must
be treated before sending it to landfill.
“Treatment” in practice means that you need to separate your
recyclables from your true waste and send them to a recycler (such as Recyclite).
You may be asked to sign a declaration by your general waste contractor that you have done this. Recyclite
will provide you with a return as proof for your records.
If you do not separate your recyclables your general waste contractor should refuse to take away your waste.
Electronics Recycling
