An independent survey has revealed that 51 per cent of Waste Disposal Authorities (WDAs) do not know whether their Producer Compliance Schemes (PCS) are meeting targets for collecting Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

The study, carried out by the Centre for Waste Management, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and commissioned by WEEE PCS firm Repic, covered 178 WDAs across England, Scotland and Wales, although only 44 per cent responded.

It was reportedly commissioned ahead of the forthcoming implementation of the WEEE Directive recast, to ‘gauge the perceptions of local authorities across the country about the current WEEE system’. A consultation on implementing the recast Directive into UK law is expected later this month.

Recast WEEE Directive

The European Union’s (EU) WEEE Directive was ‘recast’ in July 2012 and restricts the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and promotes the collection and recycling of such equipment. It is due to come into effect in the UK on 1 January 2014.

It outlines that from 2016, member states must collect 45 per cent of the weight of EEE placed on their markets, rising to 65 per cent of EEE placed on their national market, (or 85 per cent of WEEE generated in their national market in 2019). It is hoped that 85 per cent of all WEEE produced in the EU will be recycled in 2020, equating to approximately 20 kilograms per person.

WDAs have no direct legal obligations under the WEEE Regulations, however their elected PCS business does.

Survey findings

According to the survey, 73 per cent of the WDAs surveyed by UCLan stated they could benefit from better understanding of the recast WEEE Directive, while 51 per cent said that they did not whether the bodies responsible for reaching current WEEE targets were doing so.

Despite the majority not knowing whether WEEE targets were being reached, WDA officers rated the importance of ‘clear defined audit trails and environmentally sound collection and treatment’ as a priority when ranking the importance of services provided by a PCS.

In addition, those surveyed stated that the factor most likely to affect household WEEE recycling rates was in relation to a lack of knowledge by the householder. WDAs argued that WEEE was often placed in residual containers, whist many called for increased waste segregation at Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs).

Most of the WDAs surveyed said that they are currently using public communications campaigns in order to improve WEEE recycling rates, or are planning to do so, whilst many are improving (or planning to improve) WEEE segregation at HWRC facilities. A minority are currently using kerbside collections or are planning to in the future.

‘Important’ local authorities ‘get a better grasp’ on WEEE recast

Karl Williams, Director at the Centre for Waste Management, UCLan, said: “From the WDA’s perspective WEEE was not a prominent waste stream, however, it was encouraging that from the survey the WDA Officers gave WEEE a higher priority in both its collection and treatment.”

Philip Morton, CEO of Repic, added: “In light of the recast, which has the potential to radically transform the UK WEEE system, we funded the survey to gauge the perceptions of local authorities across the country about the current WEEE system.

“It is clearly important that effort is made to help local authorities get a better grasp on the changes and what they mean to them.

“Over 50 per cent of WDAs indicated that WEEE was a high priority for them and 73 per cent of them felt that they would benefit from being updated on the new legislation. Repic will be running workshops for local authorities in the next few months and information on these will be available on our website.”

Morton added that though it was “reassuring” that WDAs saw audit trail and environmental credentials as the most important factor in choosing a PCS

“It is reassuring to see that WDAs regard audit trail and environmental credentials as most important to them when choosing a PCS. Selecting a scheme that directly requires the WEEE is key as it is the trading of evidence which leads to weaknesses in the audit trail for WEEE.”

Read the UCLan report.