In simple terms, the Regulations will, from 1 July 2007, require producers to foot the bill for the collection, treatment and recycling of household WEEE from Designated Collections Facilities (DCFs) which are expected to primarily be Local Authority Civic Amenity sites. The way this will happen is that producers will have to join a Compliance Scheme and provide data for 2006 sales which will be submitted to the Environment Agency (EA) to calculate a market share for each scheme in relation to each of 13 categories. Schemes will then have to estimate the amount of WEEE that will end up being collected during the compliance period (1 July – 31 December for 2007) from DCFs and contract with sufficient Local Authorities to meet their market share to allow the scheme to collect WEEE from their DCFs. At the end of a compliance period, schemes will have to re-submit data on the weight of sales by their members for the year just gone which the EA will use to re-calculate market share. This will then be applied to the total weight of WEEE collected (by category) to give each scheme an actual weight of WEEE evidence it will need to have to comply for that previous compliance period. Schemes will then have by the end of May to balance out their evidence and where they haven’t collected enough WEEE in any category, to buy evidence from someone who has over collected.
Retailers of electrical equipment are required to either offer in-store takeback of WEEE on a one-for-one and like-for-like basis or join the Distributor Takeback Scheme that has to raise £10m to fund DF development.
There are separate requirements for producers who sell into the business market. They also have to join a scheme and submit data, but they have no market share responsibilities. However, they will have responsibility for the collection and treatment of business WEEE bearing their brand when it reaches the end of its life.
For producers, the requirements of the Regulations are relatively simple:- they must register with a scheme, provide the scheme with weight of sales data and pay the bills. The Regulations are only, really, extremely complicated for Compliance Schemes and the enforcement Agencies.
The EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment aims to deliver a more sustainable approach to managing electrical and electronic waste by increasing the volume of material recycled and reducing the amount sent to landfill. The UK was required to implement the WEEE Directive as Regulations by August 13 2004 although along with every other member state other than Greece, this date was missed. However, the UK Regulations have now come into force (2 January 2007) with full implementation due on 1 July 2007.
The Regulations will place a responsibility on Producers to pay the costs of collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of WEEE. In the UK, this will be applied from 1 July 2007 although from 1 April 2007, producers are likely to have to pay the costs related to the disposal of Hazardous WEEE from Local Authority CA sites.
All producers regardless of size or market share are required to meet the requirements of the regulations. Producers are defined as those manufacturing, importing or selling under own label, electrical and electronic equipment.
The Directive divides WEEE into 10 categories, each of which have different targets for recycling and recovery. These are listed in 4 below. The UK has introduced 3 further sub categories, also list below.
All WEEE that is separately collected will, from 1 July 2007, be required to be taken to an Authorised Treatment Facility to be treated under regulatory guidelines. These treatment requirements are listed in 5 below.
The Regulations also place a burden on retailers to ensure that an adequate network of collection facilities exists to allow consumers to dispose of their WEEE free of charge.
Producers are divided into two categories: a) those that supply electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) to households b) those that supply to businesses.
Many producers will fall into both categories, but each has different responsibilities.
For the purposes of registration, producers are companies registered with Companies House or acting as sole traders or partnerships. There is no provision for Group registrations in these Regulations.
Regardless of the approach that may be adopted, producers who supply EEE to household consumers will be required to:
Register with an approved Compliance Scheme
In 2007, provide 2006 sales data (i.e. the weight of equipment sold for each of the 13 categories)
Finance the collection, treatment and recycling/recovery of WEEE from Designated Collection Facilities (DCF)
Provide evidence of compliance
Producers will have the option of performing these responsibilities themselves or outsourcing to a compliance scheme such as Transform.
For those supplying to business users, the requirements have yet to be debated fully and it is unclear as to exactly the Directive requirements will be transposed. But it is likely that B2B producers will have to:
Register, providing annual sales data as above, but specifically for EEE supplied to businesses. Where a producer supplies to both the household and business sector, they will be required to make ‘reasonable estimates’ of the split.
For equipment supplied to businesses after August 13th, 2005, producers must finance the costs of collection, treatment, recovery and disposal unless alternative arrangements have been made with the user.
For equipment supplied until August 13thth 2005, producers are only responsible for financing the costs of collection, treatment, recovery and disposal of equipment on a like-for-like basis, interpreted in the draft legislation as "new equivalent products or new products fulfilling the same function"
Producers who place B2B and B2C products onto the market have a choice of registering each obligation with a separate scheme or with a single scheme. However, a producer cannot split his registration under either B2B or B2C between two schemes. In addition, producers will be required to:
Ensure correct markings and labelling are on products placed on the market (see 6. below)
Make available information on components that can be reused and recycled
Ensure that products placed on the European market from 1 July 2006 conform with the RoHS requirements
Every retailer selling electrical goods, no matter how small a part of their business, will be required to register and contribute to a central fund or offer free in-store take back from implementation date on a 'like for like' basis. Unlike the Packaging Waste Regulations, Charities are NOT exempt.
The government expects retailers to have responsibility for ensuring that there is an 'adequate network' of facilities that allow consumers to be able to dispose of their WEEE free of charge. At the moment, household waste recycling facilities run by local authorities form the backbone of the existing collection infrastructure, but a significant proportion must be upgraded, which raises a need for investment. In addition, the government may require further collection facilities to be provided on retail parks.
The government has contracted out the operation of the Distributor Takeback Scheme to Valpak which will take responsibility for raising the necessary funds from EEE retailers – approximately £10m – and using them to establish an ‘adequate network’ of facilities. It is expected that this will mostly be based around the Civic Amenity site network, but it is possible that the scheme would have to operate additional facilities where local authorities were not prepared to participate.
As an alternative, a retailer will be able to offer in-store take back for all categories of WEEE sold in their shop. They will be entitled (along with distributors) to free disposal if they deposit any items brought back by consumers at a Designated Collection Facility determined by a Producer Compliance Scheme.
WEEE received by stores will be counted as their own waste and will therefore not lead to sites requiring a special licence.
Retailers will also have to provide information to consumers on how to dispose of electrical waste, either through the store if they operate take back or through the compliance scheme.
Distance sellers (e.g. internet distributors) face the same responsibilities as shop-based retailers.
5. What are the implications for local authorities?
Local Authorities currently collect the majority of WEEE through the Civic Amenity site infrastructure and it is the government’s expectation that this should form the backbone of the ‘adequate infrastructure’ required under the Directive. However, to satisfy the expected requirement for WEEE to be separately grouped for ease of collection and treatment, many sites will need to be upgraded with improved facilities. The government has stated that there should be no additional financial burden on LAs through the WEEE Regulations and it is therefore proposed that the Retailer fund will pay a set amount (expected to be around £8k/DCF) to each participating Local Authority. However, LAs will still have to consider the implications on existing contracts with site operators, lost values for WEEE that might currently be collected for recycling in mixed metals skips and the effects of WEEE collection contractors on their site operations.
One of the issues for LAs is that collection facilities will need to be permitted for Hazardous Waste and under the new WEEE Permitting Regulations.
Any site that carries out ‘treatment’ of WEEE (dismantling, shredding etc) will have to be permitted
Sites may store less than 60m3 of WEEE for up to 3 months under an exemption so long as the WEEE is being treated elsewhere
6. What products are covered by the WEEE Regulations?
The 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: Category 1a - Display equipment (Computer screens and Televisions) Category 3/4a - Cooling appliances containing refrigerants Category 5a - 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
All EEE placed onto the market (see definition at the end) from 2 January 2007 must be marked with the appropriate recycling symbol of a crossed out wheelie bin of at least 5mm height and either a black rectangle or a date stamp showing the date of manufacture. If the item is too small, then the markings must be placed on the operating instructions, warranty and packaging.
All separately collected items of WEEE must be taken to an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) to have certain items removed prior to processing to meet the recycling and recovery targets. The environmental agencies have now produced treatment standards suggesting that certain items can be removed mechanically - circuit boards and batteries in particular – as long as they are recognisable and do not contaminate other items. This would indicate that for many items – cookers, washing machines and computers, for instance – shredding through a slow speed shredder will still be an option. Clearly, this will have a big impact on cost.
The items requiring removal are as follows:
All fluids
Polychlorinated biphenyls containing capacitors
Mercury containing components
Batteries
Printed circuit boards of mobile phones and other items if above 10 sq cms
Toner cartridges
Plastic containing brominated flame retardants
Cathode ray tubes
CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs or HCs
Gas discharge lamps
LCDs greater that 100 sq cms surface area
External cables
All ATFs will have to be permitted under the new WEEE Permitting Regulations but as discussed in 4. above, delays on these could lead to the need for transitional arrangements.
The definition of like-for-like products refers to equipment that performs the same function, e.g. a CRT TV when buying a LCD TV or a cassette player when buying an MP3 player.
10. What is meant by ‘separately collected’ items?
The WEEE Directive only requires items that are ‘separately collected’ to be dealt with as WEEE and taken to an ATF. Therefore, items placed in bins of mixed waste – such as the household wheelie bin – will not have to be dealt with as WEEE. There is some confusion as to how this may apply to business waste as in theory, it could mean that businesses could place electrical and electronic waste in their general waste bin and therefore not have to dispose of it through treatment although we understand that officials are trying to find a way to prevent this happening. However, the government hopes that businesses will take a more environmental approach and given that many WEEE items will be classed as hazardous waste, will deal with their WEEE appropriately and avoid placing a monitor containing a CRT in a skip of general waste, for instance. The Regulations do not mention ‘separately collected’ but it is expected that there will be reference in the Guidance.
We are awaiting final clarification on proposals to make producers pay for the collection and disposal costs incurred by Local Authorities for hazardous WEEE (fridges, televisions and fluorescent tubes) between 1 April – 30 June 2007). However, the following is expected to be the detailed timetable of events leading to the demonstration of compliance for 2007 in May 2008.
Date
Activity
Comments
2 Jan 2007
Regulations enter force across UK
No separate Regs foe Northern Ireland
2 Jan
Producer Compliance Schemes (PCS) can submit for approval
Agencies will determine within 28 days of receipt. Must include fee of £12,174
12. What’s the proposed role for Compliance Schemes?
All producers will have to be in a Compliance Scheme. They can register themselves as a Scheme, but must still go through the full approval process – and pay the £12,174 fee that each scheme will have to pay for 3 years approval. Compliance schemes will be legally liable for achieving their member’s obligations and will have to gain approval through the Secretary of State. The Regulations propose strict requirements for approval, including an operational plan, financial security, operation by a fit and proper person etc. It is likely there will be over 30 schemes, many of whom will be solely for B2B producers. The approval process for Schemes will take 28 days with the earliest date for submission being 2 January 2007.
Following data registration, B2C schemes will be given a market share by the Environment Agency for each of the categories that they have submitted their aggregated members data for. At this stage, the scheme will have to estimate what tonnage of WEEE in each of those categories is likely to arise in the UK through the compliance period and then apply its market share to estimate the amount of evidence it is likely to have to collect. If, therefore, it’s members place 5,000 tonnes of Category 1 (non cooling devices) on the market in 2006 and the total data submitted shows that 500,000 tonnes of such products were placed on the market in that period, then the scheme will have a 1% market share. If, during the compliance period, 200,000 tonnes of WEEE in that category was collected across the UK, then the scheme would have to have evidence in relation to 2,000 tonnes of that 200,000 tonnes. However, on a quarterly basis, schemes will have to update the Agencies with revised data from their members or additional data from new members and also will have to report on the amount of WEEE they have collected. Therefore, both the market share and total to which it is applied are moving feasts which can only be finally determined by a calculation two months after the end of a compliance period. Schemes will therefore have to charge their members to ensure that they fully recover any costs incurred and are likely to mitigate the risks by overcharging in advance and providing a rebate on final reconciliation.
For producers, Compliance Schemes will:
Take legal responsibility for complying with the Regulations
Help them to understand their data requirements
Submit their data to the appropriate environmental Agency
Manage collection, treatment and recovery related to the market share of the scheme for each of the 13 categories
Demonstrate that recycling and recovery targets have been met for each of the 13 categories
Transform will operate a producer Compliance Scheme for both B2C and B2B producers.
13. What responsibilities have been placed on business users?
All separately collected electrical and electronic waste must be treated and meet recycling and recovery targets, unless reused. In theory, for EEE placed on the market prior to August 2005, businesses can get suppliers of new equipment to take away old equipment on a one-for-one basis free of charge or make alternative financial arrangements with the supplier. For EEE marked with the crossed out wheely bin, the last user has, in theory, the right to get the producer whose brand is on the product to come and collect it free of charge. However, the Regulations allow producers to contract out of that liability when they sell the product and anyway, it is difficult to see how either of these requirements will work in practice given the distance between the end user and the producer in the supply chain. This is a subject for further detailed discussion between DTI and industry.
14. Is there a visible fee allowed in the Regulations?
Some of the UK’s main EEE producers have been vociferously lobbying the government for the inclusion of a visible fee in the Regulations. This is where a receipt at point of sale shows a separate cost to the consumer for the recycling of the type of product bought. However, the Regulations have only given producers the power to show a visible fee when they sell the product to a ‘purchaser’ which would normally be a retailer or wholesaler. It is therefore unlikely that the UK will see a separate charge on the till receipt unless a manufacturer supplies direct to consumers.
15. What is a Designated Collection Facility (DCF)?
It is expected that producers will only have responsibility for the cost of collecting and treating WEEE from DCFs. The majority of DCFs will be Civic Amenity sites operated by councils, but other DCFs could be set up including retail distribution centres that WEEE is brought back to, transfer stations and community re-use facilities.
DCFs will have to be approved by the DTI. This is likely to require adherence to a yet-to-be defined Code of Practice and agreement by a DCF to work with Compliance Schemes. The Code is likely to require DCFs to have the ability to store WEEE in 5 groupings of categories:
1. Categories 1 and 10 – Large household and dispensing equipment (other than fridges and freezers) 2. Fridges and freezers 3. Categories 3 and 4 – IT/telecoms and consumer equipment 4. Categories 2,6,7 and 9 – small household, tools, toys and leisure 5. Category 5 – Lighting
The regulatory agencies (Environment Agency in England and Wales, SEPA in Scotland and EHS in Northern Ireland) will have responsibility for policing all aspects of the regulations. This will include:
Registering producers
Ensuring producers are registered and discharging their legal obligations
Permitting of authorised treatment facilities and approving them to certain standards of operation relating to their ability to meet recycling and recovery targets
Permitting of collection facilities and approving them to the required standards, including ensuring they are not exporting waste illegally
Ensuring retailers have either joined a scheme or are offering sufficient take back and providing the required information (although it is likely that this will only be done if reported by the Retail Compliance Scheme)
Monitoring producers and schemes to ensure that they are registered, provide accurate information, satisfy the information requirements, apply adequate markings and meet targets
Policing the export of waste
Ensuring businesses dispose of waste in an acceptable manner and are responsible to the national clearing house
The Regulations require schemes to demonstrate that they have complied with their obligations by ensuring that they have sufficient evidence of collection, treatment and recycling in relation to their market share in each category. Evidence of the weight of WEEE collected, treated and recycled will only be able to be produced by Approved Authorised Treatment Facilities (AATFs) who will have to also produce evidence where WEEE has been removed for re-use (as this cannot be used as evidence of recycling). The AATF will have to be able to demonstrate to the enforcement authorities as part of its accreditation that it is able to show an audit trail to reprocessors for the by products of the Treatment process in order to show that the recycling targets have been met. The Guidance is expected to show the specific format of evidence, but it is likely that there will be a Note of some sort a bit like the Packaging Regulations PRN although it is expected that the Schemes will have the right to the Notes in relation to WEEE delivered to AATFs on their behalf. WEEE will also be able to be exported under certain circumstances, but ‘evidence’ for compliance purposes will only be able to be supplied by accredited Exporters.
Given the likely imbalance that each scheme will have between the amount of WEEE it has collected and its precise obligation, there will then be a need for ‘trading’ of evidence. The calculation carried out by the EA two months after the end of a Compliance Period will create a specific demand which should exactly match the available supply. Schemes will then be able to trade evidence between through a DTI run Settlement Exchange in order to balance up. By the end of May following a Compliance Period, schemes will have to be able to demonstrate that they have exactly the right amount of evidence for each category.
The Directive specifically encourages re-use by requiring all WEEE to be collected in a way that facilitates re-use. It is likely that the majority of WEEE will be un-economic to re-use, but schemes will have to demonstrate in their Operational Plans how they intend to work with re-use groups and ensure that re-use is maximised.
Costs will be dependant on many factors that are still to be resolved including the data requirements, registration fees, treatment standards, permitting requirements, quantity of producer registrants etc etc. It must also be recognised that under the new Hazardous Waste Regulations that came into force in mid July 2005, many items of WEEE eg fridges, TVs, fluorescent tubes are classed as Hazardous and will therefore incur additional cost burdens.
The Regulations have introduced a tiered annual Agency fee structure that has to be paid by each scheme for each of its members regardless of whether they are B2B or B2C.
At the moment, there are no approved Compliance Schemes although there are some who are offering membership on the basis that they will become approved. There will be no schemes approved until the end of January 2007 at the earliest and our advice to producers at this stage is as follows:
Monitor developments – this can be done through free registration with Transform.
Calculate the weight of EEE you placed on the market in 2006 by each of the 13 categories and by whether it was B2B or B2C – this will be needed by all schemes.
