All companies that produce or distribute EEE are required by law to provide evidence to the Environment Agency of what EEE they have placed on to the UK market. To do this, you will need to be registered with a WEEE Producer Compliance Scheme, such as WasteCare Compliance, or you can register directly with the Environment Agency, subject to volumes placed on the market.

The scheme you join will then compile your evidence of recycled WEEE and EEE that you place on the market to ensure that your legal obligations are met in accordance with the UK legislation.

WEEE stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment.  This refers to any Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) which has come to the end of its life.

EEE is described as equipment that relies on an electrical current or electromagnetic field in order to work correctly. This includes powered by battery.  Note: the weight of the battery is excluded from the calculations for WEEE and, subject to annual weight POM, fall under Waste Battery Regulations. Please refer to the battery section above for further details.

Not all electronic equipment is in scope of the WEEE Regulations.  There are a number of specific exemptions, please see these below.

Exempt products are:

1. Items that protect the country’s security such as arms, munitions and items for military use
2. A piece of equipment that is designed for and installed in another type of equipment, e.g., built in Sat Nav installed into a car or boat
3. Filament bulbs apart from LED filament bulbs which are not exempt

What products are excluded from the Weee Regulations?

1. Equipment designed to be sent into space
2. Transport for persons or goods, excluding electric 2 wheeled vehicles, not type approved
3. Off road mobile machinery only for professional use
4. B2B Equipment for research and development
5. Large scale stationary industrial tools
6. Large scale fixed installations, e.g., airport luggage system
7. Infected and/or implantable medical devices

If you are unsure if your product falls under any of the above categories, please contact us for further advice.

There are 15 categories under the UK WEEE Regulations 2013. Producers must decide which category they feel their products fall under from the below:

1. Category 1: Large household appliances (eg white goods but not including cooling equipment)
2. Category 2: Small household appliances (eg vacuums, irons, toasters)
3. Category 3: IT and telecoms equipment (eg computers, printers, calculators, phones, answer machines but not display monitors)
4. Category 4: Consumer equipment (eg radios, hi-fi equipment, electronic musical instruments but not televisions)
5. Category 5: Lighting equipment
6. Category 6: Electrical and electronic tools (eg drills, saws, sewing machines etc but excluding large stationary industrial tools)
7. Category 7: Toys, leisure and sports equipment (eg train sets, video games, coin slot machines and all sports equipment with electrical components)
8. Category 8: Medical devices (eg dialysis machines, ventilators)
9. Category 9: Monitoring and Control instruments (eg smoke detectors, thermostats)
10. Category 10: Automatic dispensers (eg ATMs, vending machines)
11. Category 11: Display equipment (eg TVs and monitors)
12. Category 12: Cooling equipment (eg refrigeration equipment)
13. Category 13: Gas discharge lamps (amended for 2013 to include all LED light sources as well as gas discharge lamps)
14. Category 14: Photovoltaic (Solar) Panels
15. Category 15: Vapes and electronic cigarettes

The above list of 15 categories is indicative and not intended to be exhaustive. If in doubt, please contact us for advice.

WEEE Regulations 2013 affect WEEE producers and WEEE distributors.

A WEEE Producer is a company which

• Manufactures or imports EEE under their own name or trademark and who have EEE designed/manufactured and markets this under their own name or trademark
• Resells EEE under their own name or trademark that has been produced by other suppliers – this would be ‘rebranding’
• Any company who imports from a third country on a professional basis would be considered an importer under the regulations
• If your company sells by means of distanced communication directly to end users from a third country, you would be classed as a ‘distance seller’
• WEEE Distributors are companies who sell EEE directly to household end users

A large producer places 5 tonnes or more of EEE on the UK market per annum

A small producer places less than 5 tonnes of EEE on the UK market per annum

EEE can be classed as B2B (Business to Business) or B2C (Business to Consumer). If your EEE can be used in a household environment, you need to report this under B2C and if your product can only be used in a professional environment it needs to be reported under B2B. If your product can be used in a business and a household environment, you need to report it under B2C.

To determine whether your product is household or non-household, you must consider the attributes below:

• Power supply and voltage
• Durability
• Performance
• Size and weight of the product
• Whether It’s a fixed installation