As the holiday season comes to an end, many people around the United Kingdom are looking around their homes at all of the old things that they have which have recently been replaced. Small electronic devices rank high on this list, as people are constantly looking for the newest and greatest technology, which leaves a lot of unused electronic equipment laying around. One of the largest processors of waste electric and electronic equipment or WEEE is claiming that unless the United Kingdom increases its efforts to recycle small WEEE, then they will fall significantly short of the recycling goals outlined by the European Union Directive.
Viridor Electrical Recycling, which is one of the largest recycling companies in the United Kingdom, says that public awareness about the recycling of smaller WEEE devices needs to be raised if the UK is to hit its target. This issue came to the forefront when it was speculated that the European Union would change the nature of the directive from a weight based initiative to a market based goals which would be higher and more difficult to reach. While most of the larger items like televisions and refrigerators end up being recycled, which makes it easier to make weight goals, more market based goals would require specific items to be recycled.
Small electronic devices like mobile phones and MP3 players pose a unique threat to the environment as they often contain harmful chemicals that can leak into the soil and eventually contaminate drinking water.
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