1. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations came into force on 2 January 2007 with the
following key timepoints:
15 March 2007 – Producers and Distributors should be registered
31 March 2007 – Producer schemes register members with an environmental Agency
1 April 2007 – all relevant electrical products should be marked
1 July 2007 – Producers take on the cost of collecting, treating and recycling WEEE and
Distributors provide in-store education and take-back responsibilities
30 October (each year) – Producer Schemes register their members for the following calendar year
2. Definitions
Producer – any business that manufactures, directly imports or sells under their own brand,
electrical and electronic products that fall within the Regulations regardless of whether they
are sold for business (B2B) or household (B2C) use.
Distributor – any business that sells electrical and electronic products to the UK public for
household use regardless of whether through shops, online or catalogues sales.
EEE – whole products that perform an electrical activity in their own right
3. Responsibilities of a DISTRIBUTOR:
If you sell own branded electrical products or you directly import electrical products that you
sell, you would also be considered a PRODUCER and would have to register with a Producer
Compliance Scheme such as Transform www.transform-uk.net
A DISTRIBUTOR (as above) has the responsibility to contribute towards an adequate
national network of facilities for the public to be able to dispose of WEEE free of charge and
has two choices:
i. From 1 July, you can offer to take back WEEE from your customers on a one for one and
like for like basis when they purchase a new product or within a reasonable time
afterwards or:
ii. You can opt out of in-store take back by registering with the Distributor Takeback
Scheme on www.valpak.co.uk/dts and paying a one off fee into a fund which is paid to
Local Authorities to enhance the Civic Amenity site network to receive WEEE.
Either way, from 1 July, a Distributor must provide information to their customers in store (or
in catalogue or on line if you sell through those mediums) on the recycling of WEEE and their
local disposal points.
If you sell electrical equipment only for BUSINESS use and are not a Producer as described
in a. above, you are not obligated under the Regulations and need do nothing.
4. Responsibilities of a PRODUCER:
You must register with an approved Producer Compliance Scheme (PCS) such as Transform www.transform-uk.net
For 2007, this should be by 15 March and should include the weight of electrical equipment you placed on the market in 2006 by category and whether B2B and B2C.
Producers have to re-register with a PCS in October each year for the following calendar year.
Each registration attracts a fee that has to be paid to the environmental Agencies by the PCS and is likely to require a repeat membership fee.
The Agency fees are:
i. For businesses with a turnover below the vat threshold - £30
ii. For business between the vat threshold and £1m turnover - £220
iii. For business over £1m turnover - £445
From 1 April producers must ensure all their products placed on the market have the correct
markings (crossed out wheely bin and a Producer Identification Mark – generally, the brand)
indelibly printed on the product or, if that is not large enough, printed on the packaging,
instructions and warranty.
Producers must maintain records of EEE supplied direct to end users (distance selling) in
other member states of the EU and should also be able to demonstrate they comply with the Regulations in those member States
5. Producer Compliance Schemes
Producers are required to register with Producer Compliance Schemes that have been
approved by one of the three environmental Agencies of which there are 35 collective
schemes that accept members and two closed schemes that operate purely for the
companies that set them up. Transform is a collective scheme open to all types of Producer.
The approval process cost each scheme £12,174 and lasts for 3 years with each scheme
having to demonstrate its ability to subsist.
PCSs take on the legal liability to comply with the Regulations for their members and have a
number of responsibilities:
i. They must register their members with the appropriate Agency
ii. They must supply tonnage data to the Agency for the EEE that their members placed on
the market and for the WEEE that they collect on behalf of their members, initially by 30
March 2007 then every quarter starting in October 2007 for the previous quarter’s trading.
iii. They must collect sufficient household WEEE to satisfy the B2C market share evidence
requirements of their members.
iv. They must take their member’s responsibilities for B2B collections.
6. If you are a Producer supplying electrical products that are used by businesses (B2B):
You must carry out the obligations in 4. above.
You are responsible for the collection and disposal of equipment on a one for one and like for
like basis when you supply new equipment to customers from 1 July and where you are
replacing equipment placed on the market before 15 August 2005 (which should not have the
crossed out wheely bin symbol inscribed)
You are responsible for the free collection and treatment/recycling of equipment placed on
the market after 15 August 2005 (supposedly with the crossed out wheely bin although in the
UK, this is not a legal requirement until 1 April 2007) carrying your brand unless you have
agreed a clause in your terms and conditions of sale that the purchaser accepts end of life
responsibility. However, if you do retain this responsibility, it is only if requested by the end
user that you would have to provide this service.
7. If you are a Producer supplying electrical products that are for use in households (B2C):
You must carry out the obligations in 4. above.
You must take a market share responsibility for the collection, treatment and recycling of
WEEE that arises from households at Designated Collection Facilities (which will generally be
existing Civic Amenity sites).
The responsibility for this will undertaken by the Producer Compliance Scheme in which you
are a member who will charge you for your market share costs.
8. Local Authorities
Local Authorities have no direct responsibilities under the Regulations. However, they are
expected to provide the majority of the UK’s adequate network of disposal facilities for the
public through their Civic Amenity sites.
These will be enhanced through the funding that comes out of the Distributor Takeback
Scheme with Local Authorities able to chose whether to put sites into the network as
Designated Collection Facilities.
Where a site is designated as a DCF, the Local Authority must try and contract with a PCS to
collect the WEEE that arises from the site from 1 July. If it can’t, the Authority is entitled to
pass any costs incurred in the disposal of WEEE on to producers by selling the ‘evidence’ of
treatment and recycling of that tonnage.
9. If you are an electrical contractor:
If you sell electrical PRODUCTS to householders that you fit into domestic properties, you
are, effectively, a DISTRIBUTOR and should comply as above. PRODUCTS are considered
to be whole items but not items that would be installed as part of the fabric of the building –
eg mains circuits and fuse boxes. There are grey areas such as external lighting, but
generally, it is not expected that electrical contractors would be captured under these
Regulations.
If you do not sell electrical products to households, you have no responsibilities under these
Regulations.
10. Disposal of WEEE
The Regulations are vague about the requirements for the disposal of WEEE from
businesses.
Where WEEE is collected separately from other types of waste as whole products, it should
be taken to an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility for treatment and recycling.
Transform has a national WEEE collection service which can be contacted through 0800
307307.
If this is organised by a producer under their B2B responsibilities, the producer should obtain
evidence this has happened from the AATF to be submitted by the producer’s PCS at the end
of the year as part of their compliance report. However, there is no mention made of the
requirements where a producer receives back its B2B WEEE and either re-uses it or
dismantles it for spares.
The Regulations do not prevent a business disposing of WEEE or electrical components
exactly as they do at the moment under normal waste management requirements ie mixed
with other waste if non-hazardous. The only WEEE that would be considered hazardous
would be CRTs, CFC fridges or products containing NiCad batteries or mercury switches.
11. What products are covered by the Regulations:
The Regulations define 13 categories under which EEE must be reported.
Products are considered EEE if their primary function requires either mains or battery
electricity and where if there was no electricity, the product would still perform its primary
purpose.
There are some exemptions such as all household luminaries and fixed installations installed
by professionals where products are part of a system – such as the control unit for a gas
boiler system.
There are many grey areas and we would advise that if in doubt and there is a valid reason to
do so, an item should be considered not to be in scope.
Products that are sold for household use should be reported as B2C.
Products that are sold for business use, even if they might end up in household waste, should
be reported as B2B.
Examples of current thinking of some of these grey areas of what is in or out of scope are as
follows:
In scope (have to be included in the weight reported)
Separately sold mouse, keyboard
All peripheries included with an electrical product when sold eg beaters and bowl with a mixer
Cables where sold with EEE such as SCART leads in a computer package
Electrically operated bed used for medical purposes
Memory stick
Security lighting
Purpose designed rechargeable batteries eg mobile phone battery
Headphones and speakers
Remote control sold separately or with a TV
Out of scope (do not need to be reported)
Separately sold cables
Components
Peripheries sold separate to a product
Memory cards
Household bed with electrical reclining mechanism
Internal Christmas tree lights
Consumables such as printer cartridges
Car radios – which would be covered by the end of life vehicle Regulations
Fish tanks with pump and electric light – as they will still act as a fish tank without electricity
Biffa Limited is incorporated and registered in England and Wales, Registered Number: 4081901,
Registered Office: Coronation Road, Cressex, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP12 3TZ
Telephone: 01494 521 221 Fax: 01494 463 368
Copyright 2007 Transform | Legal Disclaimer
