What Are WEEE Regulations?
WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) is the fastest growing type of waste in the UK. To address this, the WEEE Directive came into force in January 2007.
It aims to reduce the amount of WEEE being produced and encourage everyone to reuse, recycle or recover it. It also aims to improve the environmental performance of businesses that manufacture, supply, use, recycle and recover electrical and electronic equipment.
How do I know what's what?
To help manage the different possible types of WEEE being produced, 10 categories have been introduced:
- Large household appliances - for example, fridges, freezers and washing machines
- Small household appliances - for example, vacuum cleaners and irons
- IT and telecommunication equipment - for example, PC's, laptops, telephones and fax machines
- Consumer equipment - for example, TVs, videos, stereo systems and musical instruments
- Lighting equipment - for example, straight and compact fluorescent lamps, light bulbs
- Electrical and electronic tools (except large stationary industrial tools); - for example, drills, saws, welding and soldering machinery
- Toys, leisure and sports equipment - for example, electric trains, car racing sets, video games
- Automatic dispensers - for example, hot and cold drinks dispensers, money dispensers
- Medical devices (these are exempt from the WEEE recycling and recovery targets and should not include implanted or infected products)
- Monitoring and control instruments - for example, smoke detectors, weighing and measuring appliances
The Regulations apply to Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) in the above categories with a voltage of up to 1000 volts AC or up to 1500 volts DC.
Will the regulations apply to my business?
The legislation applies to all businesses that manufacture, sell and use electrical and electronic equipment.
The WEEE directive has different guidance on how the regulations will have an impact depending on the nature of your business:
If you are an importer, re-brander or manufacturer of new electrical or electronic equipment then it’s likely that you will need to comply with the WEEE Regulations, which in part implement the WEEE Directive. If you do need to comply, then you must be registered on a producer compliance scheme. You will also need to ensure that all new products carry the WEEE label, pictured on the left.
You may also have obligations under the WEEE Regulations if you are a business with electrical/electronic equipment to dispose of, or if you sell electrical or electronic equipment.
Full information on the directive, its regulations, and how they affect businesses, manufacturers, importers, local authorities and households is available from the Environment Agency website. The site also has documents and forms available to download and useful links to more information.
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