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What is WEEE

The EU Directive divides WEEE into 10 categories, each with its own recycling and recovery targets. The Government have sub-divided some of the categories to produce a further 3. The scope of what is classified as WEEE has yet to be fully defined, but the government wishes the interpretation to be pragmatic and only apply the WEEE Regulations to items who’s primary purpose requires the electrical function.

The Regulations will specifically exclude certain items including:

• Products intended solely for military purpose
• Filament light bulbs
• Household luminaries
• Large scale fixed industrial tools
• Implanted medical devices

The 10 EU categories are as follows:

• Category 1 – Large household appliances (fridges, cookers, microwaves, washing machines etc)
• Category 2 – Small household appliances (vacuum cleaners, clocks, toasters etc)
• Category 3 – IT and Telecommunications equipment (PCs, mainframes, printers, copiers, phones etc)
• Category 4 – Consumer equipment (radios, hifi, musical instruments, videos, camcorders etc)
• Category 5 – Lighting equipment (Fluorescent tubes and holders, sodium lamps etc)
• Category 6 – Electrical and electronic tools (drills, sewing machines, electric lawnmowers etc)
• Category 7 – Toys, leisure and sports equipment (electric trains, games consoles, running machines etc)
• Category 8 – Medical devices (Analysers, dialysis, medical freezers etc)
• Category 9 – Monitoring and control equipment (smoke detectors, thermostats, scales etc)
• Category 10 – Automatic dispensers (hot drinks machines, sweet and chocolate bar dispensers, cash machines etc)

The three further categories are:

• Display equipment (Computer screens and Televisions)
• Cooling appliances containing refrigerants
• Gas discharge lamps

The targets for the categories are as follows:

• Categories 1 and 10 – 80% recovery and 75% recycling (recovery can include waste to energy)
• Categories 3 and 4 – 75% recovery and 65% recycling
• Categories 2,5,6,7 and 9 – 70% recovery and 50% recycling
• Gas discharge lamps – 80% recycling