The Haz Guide

The WEEE Directive is now in force in the UK. This legislation has its origin in the EC Directives relating to Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) (2002/96/EC) and to the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) (2002/95/EC). The Regulations were amended in December 2007 and entered into force on 1 January 2008. The WEEE (Amendment) Regulations 2007 clarify how reuse can be counted as part evidence compliance and the recording of WEEE arising. There are no major policy changes.
The WEEE Directive is designed to encourage and regulate the collection, reuse, recycling and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment, for which it sets targets. The following requirements are set out in the directive's text:

The WEEE Regulations were transposed into law in January 2007 with full producer responsibility coming into effect in July 2007 for England and Wales. There are separate regulations in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Regulations include producer responsibility requirements that oblige producers of electrical and electronic equipment to arrange for collection (from a central point), treatment and recovery/recycling of household WEEE. The Government is keen to utilise existing infrastructure so HWRC operators and transfer stations are able to apply for free collections of collected WEEE from HWRCs under these arrangements, if they put in place the necessary infrastructure to become DCFs.

The WEEE regulations provide an exemption from environmental permitting for the repair and refurbishment of WEEE for reuse and a further exemption from environmental permitting for storage of WEEE. All exemptions must be registered with the Environment Agency. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Waste Management Licensing) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations (2007) amended the regulations by inserting the appropriate charge for registering the repair and refurbishment exemption.

If WEEE items are separately collected at Designated Collection Facilities (DCFs) they must be transferred for recycling or reuse to an Authorised Approved Treatment Facility (AATF). There is a duty on the UK to encourage reuse of whole products and their components before material recovery is considered.

Sites have to meet a series of infrastructure requirements to become DCFs. These requirements, contained in Annex III of the WEEE Directive, are likely to include, “impermeable surfaces (with provision for spillage collection facilities and, where appropriate, decanters and cleanser degreasers) and weather-proofing for appropriate areas… as well as… appropriate containers and suitable signage to guide users” (DTI 2004: 38).

There are recycling and recovery targets for the different categories, which are as follows:

A comprehensive guide to the WEEE Regulations can be found here. Further guidance can be obtained through the Defra website.

Guidance on Best Available Treatment, Recovery and Recycling Techniques and Treatment of WEEE has been issued for those treating WEEE. For further information on producer responsibility for WEEE, visit the Defra and BERR web pages. Further detail is also provided in the Good Practice and Case Study sections of this Guide.

BERR fund the WEEE Settlement Centre, the role of which is to record evidence of WEEE treatment and to allow issuance and holdings of Evidence Notes to be monitored. The BERR Settlement Centre can be accessed here.

Some WEEE will be classed as hazardous waste and therefore subject to the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005. However, the WEEE Regulations make it clear that there will be no effect on other legislation and so WEEE that is also hazardous (such as CRTs, fluorescent tubes and CFC containing refrigeration units) will still need to fulfil the requirements of the Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005.