020 7001 6000The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive was a producer-responsibility Directive designed to tackle the fastest-increasing waste stream in Europe.
The WEEE Directive sets targets for collecting WEEE, new standards for the treatment of WEEE and strict recycling and recovery targets to help minimise its disposal to landfill. It affects any business that manufactures, brands or imports electronic or electrical equipment (EEE) as well as businesses that sell EEE or store, treat or dismantle WEEE within the European Union.
The Directive:
- Introduces requirements to mark EEE products with a 'crossed out wheelie bin' symbol
- Sets targets for the amount of WEEE to be collected separately from private households
- Requires the UK to establish and maintain a register of EEE producers
- Makes distributors and retailers responsible for making arrangements to take back WEEE free of charge in a convenient way for customers
- Requires all separately collected WEEE to be treated
- Introduces recycling and recovery targets for various categories of WEEE
Rules for business users
WEEE must be stored, collected, treated, recycled and disposed of separately from any other waste your business produces.
You must also obtain and keep proof that your WEEE was given to an authorised waste-management company, and was treated and disposed of in an environmentally sound way.
For more details, visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk or www.dti.gov.uk
