WEEE Consultation
The UK Government has outlined a timetable for the introduction of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive. The broad aim of the WEEE Directive is to address the environmental impacts of WEEE and to encourage its separate collection and subsequent treatment, reuse, recovery, recycling and environmentally sound disposal.
The consultation on key proposals set to be introduced on 1st July 2007 was also opened. The consultation marks the beginning of the final phase of the Government’s process for implementing the WEEE Directive and seeks the views of businesses, manufacturers, retailers, producers and enforcement authorities. The proposals outlined in the consultation follow on from a review of the Government’s implementation proposals in December 2005 and have been developed through extensive consultation with key stakeholders.
The key proposals are:
• A national Distributor Takeback Scheme which will establish a network of designated collection facilities enabling consumers to return their used items for recycling or reuse.
• Obligatory registration of producers through approved compliance schemes.
• Authorised Treatment Facilities which will process WEEE and provide evidence to producers on the amount of WEEE received for treatment.
• Accredited reprocessing/recycling facilities which will provide evidence of reprocessing to producers.
• An end-of-year settlement to ensure producers are able to meet their obligations via an “Exchange system”.
• A voluntary approach for producers to show the cost of handling historical WEEE.
The consultation opened on 25th July and closes on 17th October. The consultation documents can be found at http://www.dti.gov.uk/consultations/page32448.html
Source: www.dti.gov.uk (accessed 04/08/06)
JPD offers a one-day course on this subject called Producer Responsibility, visit our new website www.jpd.co.uk for more information or call our friendly team of advisors on 0870 438 2573