WEEsy does it

As of January this year the law has changed regarding waste electrical equipment – here, Tim Collins of GAMBICA tells us what you need to know to stay legal.

For years, we have all been throwing away our electrical rubbish into landfill sites and as I am sure you are aware, we are running out of space and it’s not a very good way of dealing with it anyway. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive is part of the legislation being put in place to make us recycle and re-use as much as possible.

When does it take effect?

On 2nd January 2007, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive was transposed in to UK law. The UK was one of the last EU members to bring this legislation on to the statute books. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Waste Management Licensing) (England and Wales) Regulations 2006 - were laid in Parliament on 15 December and came into force on 5 January 2007. These Regulations cover England and Wales and deal with the site licensing and WEEE treatment requirements of the WEEE Directive. Similar but separate provisions will be introduced for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The 16th March 2007 was the deadline for companies who supply Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) to register with (or as) a compliance scheme. The 1st July 2007 is when the official take back of EEE begins.

The UK legislation stipulates that all those who are obligated to take back WEEE (the producers) must either join a compliance scheme or set themselves up as a compliance scheme. So far 37 compliance schemes have registered and been approved by the Environment Agency.

So what will this mean to people in the scientific laboratory community?

For suppliers, any business that manufactures brands or imports electrical or electronic products will be known as a ‘producer’ and is affected. Businesses selling electrical items or storing, treating or dismantling WEEE will also be affected. The legislation applies to household and non-household products, which includes laboratory equipment.

Who is going to regulate this legislation?

The Environment Agency (EA) will take the responsibility for

• Approval of producer compliance schemes;
• Management of data on market share (for consumer goods only),
• WEEE collection, treatment and reprocessing;
• Registration of producers of electrical and electronic equipment
  Maintenance of a public register;
• Identification of 'free-riders' and bringing them into compliance;
  Regulation of sites that store and treat WEEE;
• Approval of treatment facilities and exporters of WEEE so that they are able to issue evidence of treatment and recovery;
• Monitoring and enforcement, compliance with the treatment and recovery requirements.

What do I need to do if I am a producer?

As mentioned above you will have to register either as a compliance scheme (this is quite expensive at around £12,000 for three years) or join a compliance scheme.

From April 1st 2007 you will also need to mark all your equipment with the WEEE label (a crossed out wheelie bin – see BS EN 50419:2005 and the picture below), a producer identification mark and a date mark.

What will it cost me as a producer, to comply?

The cost of joining a compliance scheme will vary but the cost payable to the EA for each company in a compliance scheme is fixed at £30/year for not VAT registered companies, £225/year for VAT registered companies with a turnover under one million pounds and £445/year for companies with a turnover in excess of £1m.

In addition to the fees above there will be the cost of taking back and recycling the WEEE. This will again vary from compliance scheme to scheme but is usually based on a price per ton. However there maybe additional costs such as decontamination or clean up.

How do I know which scheme to join?

If joining a scheme is the the right solution for your business, then you should first review the list of registered schemes at the E A website - www.environment-agency.gov.uk/commondata/acrobat/list_120307_1694153.pdf -
You should then do a little homework on which companies have registered with which schemes, which fits your type of waste and what will be the likely overall costs (over many years).

How will it affect me as a user of WEEE?

As a scientist or laboratory manager you must now recycle your old equipment.  There are two types of WEEE.

1) Historical WEEE, purchased before 15th August 2005
2) New WEEE, purchased after 15th August 2005 with a crossed out wheelie bin mark on. New equipment sold after 15th August 2005 will normally have a crossed out wheelie bin mark on but not necessarily have the producer identification and date mark on as these requirements were added later.

Who do I send it back too?

In the case of historical WEEE, if you are purchasing a new piece of equipment to replace an old one (i.e. you are buying a new balance to replace an old one) then the producer of the new equipment will be obligated to recycle the old equipment. This only applies to business to business waste (B2B) and not Business to Consumer (B2C)

In case of new WEEE the original producer will be obligated to recycle the equipment. If you are simply wishing to get rid of some old equipment, purchased before August 2005, then you will be responsible. Usually a compliance scheme will be willing to take back that equipment (at a cost).

In all cases the equipment you wish to recycle has to be cleaned up/decontaminated before recycling. This cleaning/decontamination is the responsibility of the user and not the producer, however some schemes and producers may offer to clean up / decontaminate the equipment for a charge.

How much will it cost me as a user?

Probably more difficult to give figures at present, as no one has started recycling yet, however producers may have to reflect these costs in future pricing.

By Tim Collins. Tim is a Graduate of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He spent nearly 10 years working in the chemistry laboratories at Kings College, London and Roehampton Institute before embarking on a 22-year career in sales, covering UK, export and management. He joined Gambica in Oct 2005 as Directory of the Laboratory Sector.