According to a new report from LRS Consultancy, it is ‘likely’ that the majority of business-to-business information technology (B2B IT) recycling and refurbishment is not reported on, despite collections being widespread.
The paper, ‘Business-to-Business Information Technology (B2B IT) User Practices at End of Life in the United Kingdom, Germany and France’ was authored by LRS consultant Richard Peagam.
It comes amidst an open consultation into amending current Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) legislation so that it complies with the European Union’s (EU) recast WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU and ‘responds to concerns from UK producers of electrical and electronic equipment under the Environmental Theme of the Red Tape Challenge about the cost of meeting their financial obligations under the UK WEEE Regulations’.
The report argued that, in addition to a lack of reporting on B2B waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), those companies disposing of their WEEE items ‘did not have information on the management or disposition of these streams’.
This adds to concerns over a lack of WEEE reporting awareness voiced by the Centre for Waste Management, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and WEEE producer compliance scheme firm Repic, after finding that 51 per cent of Waste Disposal Authorities did not know whether their producer compliance schemes were meeting targets for collecting WEEE.
Speaking of his paper, Richard Peagam said: “The evidence I have presented highlights the risks to producer responsibility and should stimulate ideas to overcome them.”
Dee Moloney, Managing Director of LRS Consultancy, added: “Richard’s wealth of knowledge and technical experience is supporting our clients with their challenges to implement producer responsibility strategies.”
Lack of reporting
The European Union’s (EU) WEEE Directive uses the principle of extended producer responsibility, which states that producers should be responsible for the whole of their products’ life cycles.
By ensuring this, it is hoped that producers will be encouraged to adopt more sustainable policies with regards to the waste they produce.
However, this process relies on producers reporting levels of WEEE waste to ensure it is adhered to, something that the report argues is lacking.
It presents several examples of this, such as waste ‘in which no party sees any value’ and therefore does not take responsibility for.
Furthermore, the paper highlights gaps in the WEEE Directive: ‘the majority [of organisations] were disposing of the end-of-life equipment through either an informal arrangement or a contractor… two routes not currently covered by current WEEE Directive reporting.
‘The fact that the majority of B2B IT could be already being collected and that different-size organisations might use different routes, most of which are not covered by current WEEE Directive reporting, should be considered in future policy making and studies in this area’, it continued.
Recommendations
In order to counteract this, the paper recommends that the ‘networks and operational practices of these streams need to be better understood when developing business strategies and government policies’.
However, it closes by arguing that most manufacturers have not voluntarily established WEEE collections, instead doing so through producer compliance schemes. Those that have done so voluntarily should be monitored and regulated so that more information on their collections can be obtained, it argues.
This, ultimately, is the main recommendation of the paper: ‘It is expected that [further research] will contribute to further expanding our knowledge about this part of the EEE life cycle and informing policy making to better account for and manage B2B WEEE’, it concludes.
Peagam added: “I hope the information in my paper will benefit government, compliance schemes and organisations along the electrical and electronic equipment supply chain.
“It is a good source of evidence about the B2B WEEE market in Europe and with the materials used in electrical and electronic equipment becoming widely recognised as a commodity, there are both opportunities and risks for organisations along the supply chain, including producers, collectors, compliance schemes and re-users/recyclers.”
Read Richard Peagam’s ‘Business-to-Business Information Technology User Practices at End of Life in the United Kingdom, Germany and France’ report.
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