Department of Business Minister Malcolm Wicks has announced plans to review the UK WEEE System and infrastructure, with a warning being issued to producer compliance schemes that may face consequences if they “threaten the whole system”.
“We will be working with the enforcement authorities to ensure that those that wish to distort the system are dealt with effectively,” said Wicks.
Wicks made the announcement at a BERR-organised WEEE stakeholder event, where he praised the UK’s “impressive achievement” in collecting waste electronic and electrical equipment in excess of the 4s kilograms per capita. The EU WEEE Directive has set a projected target of 10 kg per head by the end of 2009.
Wicks did take the opportunity to warn producer compliance schemes against “operating in a way that might damage the future effectiveness of the UK’s WEEE system”.
He said: “I cannot and will not let any producer compliance scheme running with its own agenda threaten the whole system and we will be working with the enforcement authorities to ensure that those that wish to distort the system are dealt with effectively.”
Mr.. Wicks’ announcement came after the 2007 compliance period experienced ongoing difficulties in the relationships between producer compliance schemes, most notably their “approaches towards accumulating sufficient evidence to meet their members’ obligations”.
Roughly six compliance schemes were short of evidence when the deadline for 2007 compliance passed, including Repic, Transform, and ERP. It is now known however, that some schemes exercised the option to buy evidence from Electrolink during the extended time allotted to make up their shortfall.
For more information, go to: ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee_index.htm or berr.gov.uk/
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