The Government has published the long-awaited consultation on the reform of the WEEE compliance Regulations.
Proposed changes are intended to increase the options and convenience for householders and businesses to use appropriate re-use, recycling and disposal routes. These measures include:
- Collection of WEEE directly from households, financed by EEE producers
- Large retailers to offer free in-store take back without the need to buy a replacement electrical product
- Retailers and online sellers to collect unwanted or broken large electrical items for free when delivering a replacement
- Online marketplaces to contribute to the collection of WEEE and financing their preparation for reuse and recycling
- Introduction of a separate EEE category for vapes to ensure vape producers properly finance the cost of their separate collection and treatment
The majority of these measures are intended to come into place from 2026. However, the Government is willing to implement a few key changes as early as 2024, especially on online marketplaces and vape producer compliance.
Our Compliance Director Clement Gaubert commented:
“We welcome the publication of the long-awaited consultation on the reform of the WEEE Regulations and we look forward to sharing our views. We believe the Government proposals will address the flaws of the existing system and make it more convenient for householders and businesses to dispose of their WEEE responsibly.
We believe these measures will help to divert more WEEE from landfill and keep precious metals in the circular economy. It will also ensure all producers, including online marketplaces and vape producers properly finance the disposal cost of WEEE.”
The consultation will run until the 7th of March. We will host a webinar at 10am on the 13th of February to review these proposals and tell you how Wastecare can help you prepare for these changes.
Reduce your producer compliance cost
As a leading waste collector and recycler, we can offset your producer compliance costs by collecting household WEEE or waste portable batteries that you are responsible for, either at your stores or at your customers’ premises.
For WEEE compliance we will offset your producer obligation cost by the EEE categories you are obligated for on a like-for-like basis. So, if we collect household WEEE that is in the same category as the household EEE you place on the market, we will offset your producer obligation and reduce your WEEE compliance cost.
Similarly for Battery compliance, we will offset your producer obligation by the volume of waste portable batteries we will collect on your behalf and reduce your Battery compliance cost.
Please contact our producer compliance team at compliance@wastecare.co.uk to arrange a collection.
