Waste electronic equipment

Malcolm Wicks has announced that progress on the implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (known as WEEE) is to be reviewed immediately.

The directive requires producers to pay for treatment and recycling or recovery of all WEEE products.

Retailers have an obligation to offer take-back services to householders and will be providing a network of collection facilities where consumers can take back their WEEE for it to be collected separately from other municipal waste.

The energy minister said on Thursday: "This government is firmly committed to sustainable development and recognises that effective implementation of the WEEE directive has a key role to play in achieving this goal.

"The directive is challenging and effective implementation of its obligations requires a lot of planning and preparation - it is vital that the producers, retailers and the waste industry together with government have the appropriate plans, infrastructure and regulations in place.

"We have listened to the concerns expressed by both the business community and other stakeholders over the implementation process and have decided that more time is needed to get the implementation right.

"Although any further delay is regrettable, this will ultimately deliver far greater environmental benefits."

Stakeholder Response: British Retail Consortium

BRC director of CSR Nigel Smith said: "It is unfortunate that this announcement has come so late in the process, but we understand the reasons and timing difficulties the government was facing.

"We will continue to work constructively with both Government and Local Authorities in order to meet the revised deadlines as effectively as possible."

Stakeholder Response: CKS

David Sutcliffe, sales director of CKS Group Plc, said: "The announcement by energy minister Malcolm Wicks confirming a further delay to the implementation of the WEEE directive will be met with frustration by the IT, electronics recycling and waste industries.

"Whilst this new delay doesn’t strike us as a particularly good example of best business practice, we do recognize that the DTI has had a difficult task trying to achieve a broad level of agreement amongst the various stakeholders affected by the WEEE directive.

"From a CKS perspective, we have been helping businesses fulfil their environmental responsibilities since 1997 by developing innovative and intelligent IT recycling solutions, so the delay will have no significant impact on us.

"However we are concerned that for other organisations within the waste and recycling industries a certain amount of time and money still needs to be invested in equipment and processes in order for these companies to be 'WEEE-ready'.

!The uncertainty created by each new delay makes it very difficult for these organisations to plan future capital expenditure requirements and dilutes the seriousness of the directive.

"We hope this does not end up affecting the smooth roll-out of the WEEE directive once it does eventually become law in the UK, a situation where all the producers are ready, but much of the recycling and waste industry is not!

"The long and short of it is that we would now urge the DTI to make this the last delay and to ensure that by the spring it will be ready and able to provide the industry with very clear guidelines for the implementation of WEEE. This is not just from a consumer WEEE point of view, but from a business WEEE one as well."