One week to go! WEEE consulation closes on the 7th March
Defra released a consultation and a call for evidence on December 28, 2023, about the amendment of The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013. The current WEEE regulations are being reformed by the government since they have been in effect for almost 18 years and have not significantly changed.
The "collective producer responsibility" model underpins the existing WEEE collecting and treatment system. Based on their market share in particular equipment categories, manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) make financial contributions. Since 2007, producers have covered the cost of collection and appropriate treatment for residential WEEE, which is collected separately and mostly collected through domestic waste and recycling centres. When the UK WEEE Regulations were first introduced in 2006, not much has changed.
EEE producers have a significant say in the WEEE Regulations and their transition to an EPR system. Important components of a producer-focused EPR system are:
In order to meet goals and targets, producers must pay the entire net cost of managing their products as they near the end of their useful lives, taking into account any effects on society and the environment.
Producers are encouraged to make more environmentally friendly design, production, and purchasing decisions by using modified fees or other strategies that align with our resources and waste priorities as well as the waste hierarchy. For instance, manufacturers might be required to pay a fine for products that are difficult to recycle, repair, or repurpose, and a reduced fee for those that are.
According to the "polluter pays" principle, all producers are required to contribute to the system, either directly or by the prices others in the supply chain impose on them. These payments will be proportionate and without unnecessary administrative burden.
To guarantee that our Beyondly Call for Evidence response accurately reflects the opinions of our stakeholders, we would want to gather their feedback via our survey. As a scheme, we will be submitting a response and would like to give all our members an opportunity to feed their views into our response. We have created two summarised surveys, that outline the proposals and questions of each area of the consultation;
our recent webinars outlined the proposals contained within both the open consultation and call for evidence. The recordings for both webinars are available here - https://portal.beyond.ly/my-services/weee/
If you’d like to respond directly, please navigate to Defra’s portal at the links below. You can do this until the deadline of 11:45pm on the 7th March 2024.
1. Find the consultation document here https://consult.defra.gov.uk/product-regulation-and-producer-responsibility/consultation-on-reforming-the-producer-responsibil/
2. Find the call for evidence here https://consult.defra.gov.uk/product-regulation-and-producer-responsibility/call-for-evidence-on-reforming-the-producer-respon/