| What is the WEEE Directive? |
Information about what is the WEEE Directive
- a summary, overview or tutorial giving information about the basics of the
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, WEEE, Directive 2002/96/EC and
2003/108/EC
Each year, increasing amounts of electronic equipment are
manufactured. However this has resulted in a growing level of discarded
equipment once it has finished its useful life. For example, within the UK over
a million tones of electrical and electronic goods are discarded each year. This
is creating an ever increasing problem.
To address the problem of the growing level of waste in
electrical and electronic equipment, in 2003, the EU adopted the WEEE Directive.
The WEEE directive seeks to improve the way that waste in these products is
managed. It encourages and sets criteria for the collection, treatment,
recycling and recovery of WEEE. It covers household and non-household electrical
and electronic equipment supplied to users such as local authorities, government
agencies, hospitals, etc.
The WEEE directive is one of a series of what may be termed
"producer responsibility" directives. These directives make producers of new
equipment responsible for paying for the treatment and recycling of products at
the end of their life. In this way they will also be designed to enable
re-cycling to be easier and more cost effective. The WEEE Directive affects any
business that manufactures, brands or imports electrical and electronic
equipment as well as businesses that sell, store, treat or dismantle waste
electrical and electronic equipment within the European Union (EU), and products
that are sold have to show WEEE compliance. However it also affects the whole of
the life of the product because it also affects businesses that have equipment
to dispose of and the public who now have more opportunities to reuse, recycle
and recover these products.
WEEE Directive Applicability
The WEEE Directive applies to a wide variety of electronic
equipment. However to ensure that it is not applied to areas where it would not
be viable a list of applicable areas is included within the directive. These
include:
- household appliances
- IT and telecommunications equipment
- electrical and electronic tools
- toys, leisure and sports equipment
- medical devices
- audiovisual and lighting equipment
- automatic dispensers
WEEE Directive aims
The WEEE Directive seeks to reduce the impact of waste
equipment by encouraging those who manufacture, use and dispose of equipment to
achieve this in the best possible manner. It shifts the responsibility firmly
onto those who benefit from its manufacture in what ever way. This the WEEE
Directive aims to:
- reduce waste arising from electrical and electronic equipment (EEE)
- make producers of EEE responsible for the environmental impact of their
products, especially when they become waste
- encourage separate collection and subsequent treatment, reuse, recovery,
recycling and sound environmental disposal of EEE
- improve the environmental performance of all those involved during the
lifecycle of EEE
WEEE compliance
WEEE compliance is now necessary for applicable products
being sold within the EU. In fact there are responsibilities for WEEE compliance
on users, producers and distributors. The different responsibilities for WEEE
compliance are summarised below:
- Equipment users: It is necessary to:
- If electrical and electronic equipment is used it is necessary to
store, collect, treat, recycle and dispose of WEEE separately from other
waste.
- It is necessary to also obtain and keep proof that WEEE was given to
a waste management company, and was treated and disposed of in an
environmentally sound way.
- Equipment producers: It is necessary to:
- For WEEE compliance it is necessary to join a producer compliance
scheme by 15 March 2007.
- Again for WEEE compliance it is necessary to mark products with a
crossed-out wheeled bin symbol and the unique producer identification
mark, which can be obtained from the producer WEEE compliance scheme.
- It is necessary to provide information to the producer compliance
scheme every three months about the amount of equipment that has been
placed on the market.
- It is also necessary to make information available to operators of
treatment and reprocessing facilities about new products that have been
placed on the market after 1 April 2007. This helps with effective
treatment, recycling and reuse.
- Again for WEEE compliance it is necessary to provide the producer
registration number to distributors. This confirms to them that they are
purchasing electrical and electronic equipment from a registered
producer in the UK.
- Retain records for four years.
- Equipment distributors: It is necessary to:
- Provide information on the environmental impacts of electrical and
electronic equipment and WEEE, reasons for separating WEEE from other
waste, the meaning of the crossed-out wheeled bin symbol and how users
can safely deposit WEEE for proper treatment and recycling free of
charge. For WEEE compliance it is necessary to keep records of this
information for four years.
- Display information to customers on the benefits of take-back
schemes.
- Establish an in-store take-back scheme or join the distributor
take-back scheme.
Although WEEE compliance may seem very onerous, it is
necessary to have these regulations so that the system works. Today, in many
countries, WEEE compliance is not an option, instead it is required to enable
goods to be sold.
Summary
The WEEE Directive is now established and many areas are
being implemented. The benefits of this will be seen in years to come when it
enables products to be re-cycled more easily, and more cheaply. This will bring
considerable benefits to the environment in which we live. As a result more
people have to have a good knowledge and understand what is the WEEE directive.
|
