Green Agenda - Recycling
Published May 2, 2008 at 3:14 pm · Filed under Features
Check WEEE status of suppliers NetRegs warns
Environmental guidance provider NetRegs is warning small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that they could be paying avoidable waste charges and expending unnecessary time and effort in the disposal of their own electrical waste.
According to a survey commissioned by Netregs, the majority of small and medium-sized businesses are still unaware of what the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations entail, one year after they came into force.
The SME-nvironment survey found that only one in 10 (12%) SMEs could name the WEEE Regulations unprompted.
Richard Martin, NetRegs programme manager, comments: “SMEs generate 60 per cent of all commercial waste in England and Wales so it’s critical that all users of electrical equipment understand what WEEE means for them - and it is worrying that only 1 in 8 SMEs are aware of WEEE legislation unprompted.”
The WEEE Regulations were introduced in January 2007 to reduce the amount of electrical waste going to landfill. They require producers of electrical and electronic equipment to join a producer compliance scheme and pay for the collection, treatment and disposal of all WEEE bought after August 2005.
Business users of WEEE no longer have to pay to send electrical waste bought after August 2005 to landfill, but can contact the producer’s compliance scheme to arrange its collection. Producers are also responsible for the disposal of older WEEE if it is replaced with a new machine on a like-for-like basis.
This only applies if the producer, defined as any business that imports, manufactures, or re-brands electrical equipment in the UK, has already registered with a producer compliance scheme. If the producer has not done so, the owner of the equipment will be responsible for its disposal. As a significant proportion of producers have still not taken this step, Martin advises businesses to check suppliers’ status.
He said: “We strongly recommend that SMEs incorporate WEEE into their procurement procedures, so that when buying a new piece of equipment they check that the producer is legally registered and already conforms to WEEE.”
caption story
Under the WEEE regulations, businesses are responsible for waste equipment
bought before August 2005 (with some exceptions) and must pay to have it
treated and recycled at a suitable reprocessing facility like that run by
WEEE specialist Midex. The Aldershot company is helping finance company
Paragon meet its historic WEEE obligations by collecting and recycling more
than 22,000 kilos of the organisation's redundant IT equipment.
On arrival at Midex's DoE-licensed facility, the IT is broken down into components parts.
Plastic is set aside for collection by a specialist recycler, and the remaining waste is shredded to less than 25mm.
Ferrous material, iron and steel is extracted via an over-band magnet and stored in one tonne bags until sold.
What remains passes through an Eddy Current Separator, which helps remove aluminium, wires,
circuit boards and small quantities of precious metals.
Firms urged to refurbish before recycling
An alternative to the process described in the caption story above is to donate redundant IT equipment to an IT recycler and refurbisher like Remploy e-cycle.
Part of Remploy, the UK’s leading provider of specialist employment services for disabled people, e-cycle specialises in taking old IT equipment and refurbishing it to a standard that allows it to be re-deployed within the organisation, re-sold or donated to a good cause.
Tony Stroud, general manager for Remploy e-cycle is urging businesses to extend the life of equipment that may be only three years old by considering alternatives to professional waste disposal services.
“Most businesses looking to dispose of redundant computer equipment believe they only have a few limited, and costly, options available to them,” explained Remploy e-cycle general manager Tony Stroud. “Using companies such as Remploy e-cycle helps organisations to comply with all the appropriate legislation but brings the added benefit of generating a new lucrative revenue stream.”
