Recycling household electrical
equipmentWith effect from July 2007, the UK’s Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations require that all
producers of electrical equipment are now obliged to pay for recycling
of household electrical goods, where previously this bill was met by
councils or items were not recycled at all. These regulations also
require that all retailers both actively assist in delivering a UK wide
WEEE collection infrastructure and encourage the participation of
consumers in recycling electronic equipment.
So that
you can get your waste electrical goods recycled, we have contributed
towards a national fund to assist local councils to further develop
their existing waste electronics collection facilities, which will in
turn allow producers of this equipment to meet their
obligations.
Not all council sites are suitable to
collect all types of waste electrical goods but to find out your
nearest participating site (including other collection facilities that
may not be operated by the council) and for advice on all aspects of
recycling at home, please visit www.recycle-more.co.uk. Don’t forget to have your
postcode ready to use in the ‘recycling facilities’
locator.
Electronic waste is one of the fastest
growing waste streams and much of it can be recycled and resources
recovered to make new consumer goods. To remind consumers of the
collection methods available which in turn allow recycling to take
place, all electrical items sold now carry the ‘crossed out wheeled
bin’ symbol. To ensure your waste electronics don’t contribute to
damaging the environment, please use www.recycle-more.co.uk and recycle
today.
In order to partially meet our
obligations as a distributor as defined in the UK Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations (SI 2006 No. 3289 - 11 December
2006) (referred to hereafter as “the WEEE Regulations”), we have opted
to become a full member of the Distributor Take back Scheme (DTS).
Membership of the DTS is defined in regulation 35 of the WEEE
Regulations and delivers exemption from the requirements of regulation
31 (to “ensure that WEEE from private households can be returned to him
free of charge and on a one-to-one basis”) and regulation 34(1)
(maintenance of records).
As a member of the DTS, we
have made a financial contribution toward the development of the
network of Designated Collection Facilities (DCFs) instead of offering
instore take back of WEEE. This financial contribution is described in
paragraphs 83 to 88 of the UK WEEE guidance, and has been used to
improve the WEEE collection facilities located at Local Authority Civic
Amenity sites.
In addition, through our support of
the national recycling website, recycle-more.co.uk, we will also meet our
obligations under regulation 33 to make information available to users
of EEE in private households on -
a) the requirement on each
Member State under Article 2 of the Directive to minimise the disposal
of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to achieve a high level of
collection of WEEE for treatment, recovery and environmentally sound
disposal;
b) the collection and take back systems available to
them;
c) their role in contributing to the reuse, recycling
and other forms of recovery of WEEE under these
Regulations;
d) the potential effects on the environment and
human health as a result of the presence of hazardous substances in
EEE; and
e) the meaning of the crossed out wheeled bin symbol.