19 December 2005
A potentially massive delay looks set to be announced imminently by the DTI regarding new regulations on producer responsibility for waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE).
Exact reasons for this serious setback are as yet unclear, but it could see the whole legislative process under Europe's WEEE Directive put back by as much as six months, letsrecycle.com understands. A spokeswoman for the Department of Trade and Industry said this week an announcement is expected soon.
A fresh consultation could be undertaken in the Spring of 2006 as the DTI revisits its proposals for regulations that would make electronics producers responsible for funding collection and recycling of waste appliances.
It is uncertain how the new delay will affect local authorities financially. Councils had previously been guaranteed DTI funds to cover the burden of collecting potentially hazardous WEEE up to June 2006, when the DTI said producer responsibility was to begin.
But, industry observers are expected to consider this latest setback as a massive blow. The recycling industry now faces potentially huge costs in terms of new equipment purchased, which may now lie largely idle through much of 2006. Compliance schemes and companies that have recruited staff to develop systems to handle the demands of the WEEE regulations will also be hit by the decision.
Some within the industry have questioned whether all these companies can survive having spent so much, without a return. The UK is already five months late in establishing producer responsibility for waste electronics, as required by Europe. The WEEE Directive was set to coincide with hazardous waste regulations, which took effect this summer. Items such as televisions have to be treated and recycled or sent to hazardous landfill, the costs of this would have been negated though by compliance schemes providing free collection of the waste.