WEEE

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive was issues by the EC to address the issue of increasing electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) waste in the EU. The directive was transposed into UK legislation on 12 December 2006 and entered into force on 2 January 2007 as WEEE Regulations 2006.

The 10 categories of EEE covered by the legislation include:

  1. Large and small household appliances
  2. IT & telecommunication equipment
  3. Consumer equipment (TV, video, hi-fi etc.)
  4. Toys
  5. Lighting
  6. Electronic and electrical tools (with the exception of large stationary industrial tools)
  7. Leisure and sports equipment
  8. Medical devices (exempt from re-use and recovery targets)
  9. Monitoring and control instruments
  10. Automatic dispensers

The WEEE directive is based on the polluter pays concept and it requires the producer of EEE to be responsible for the collection, treatment, recovery and disposal of the product at its end-of-life.

The directive affects the producer, exporter, distributor and householder of EEE. Key requirements of WEEE Directive are:-

  • Householders will be able to return their WEEE to collection facilities free of charge
  • Producers will be responsible for financing the collection, treatment, recovery and disposal of this WEEE.
  • Producer must join a Producer Compliance Scheme (PCS) to discharge their producer obligations.
  • Producers will be collectively responsible for financing the management of WEEE from products placed on the market, according to current market share per product category.
  • Producers must mark their names and the disposal symbol on the products to show that the products must not be disposed as household waste.
  • Producers must provide information to allow the disassembly/re-use/recycling of their products and the identification of specific components that must be separated at end of life.
  • Distributor must provide facilities to the customers to return WEEE free of charge
  • Exporters will only be able to issue evidence of WEEE treatment or recovery outside the EU region, if they have been approved by the Environment Agency.

Click on the links below for BERR and Environment Agency's WEEE factsheets for the roles of producers, distributors and exporters:-

WEEE Producer Factsheet

WEEE Distributor Factsheet

WEEE Exporter Factsheet

Legislative Documents

The WEEE Regulations 2006

The WEEE Regulations (Amendment) 2007

Government Guidance Notes

Government Guidance Notes on the WEEE Regulations 2006