Implications of the WEEE directive to business and consumers.

With new legislation imminent, and as the EU mountain of discarded electrical and electronic equipment from our throwaway lifestyle soars to staggering proportions, the consumer is being asked the inevitable question: Are you prepared to embrace a repair and recycle approach to service?

The logistics world is preparing itself for a pan-European revolution. With more than six million tonnes of electronic waste generated in the European Union each year, the growth of pressure across Europe to legislate for environmental disposal has been significant. In the UK alone, more than two million television sets and 1.5 million cathode ray tubes from computers are discarded every year, the bulk of which find there way into landfill sites. With approximately 4lbs of lead in a typical personal computer, the bulk of which is in the CRT , means that land filling these products leads to leaching of lead and other toxins into soil and water.

The EU’s adoption of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS) Directives in February 2003 started the clock ticking towards a target of implementation in 2004.

In the most basic terms, the key provisions of WEEE will require producers to create systems for the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment. In essence, WEEE aims to make producers, importers or distributors in the EU responsible for the “take-back” and responsible disposal of consumer products. This will include the full management of the infrastructure to undertake this responsibility. Alongside this provision for the recovery and reuse of collected waste equipment, the directive also outlines additional data-reporting obligations for producers.

The cost of recycling electronic goods will at the end of the day be passed on to the consumer who will see a visible tax imposed on products to cover the cost of recycling at end-of-life of each electrical or electronic product he purchases, typically industry insiders estimate the visible tax to be in the region of between £3 and £10 for radios and washing machines, fridges and TV’s up to £30 and computers up to £65.