The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations aim to ensure that appliances are collected at the end of their life and sent to authorised treatment sites rather than landfill.

The collection targets are set annually by Defra, based on their estimates of how much equipment is expected to be placed on the market in the coming year. Obviously, this is an inexact science and for the past two years AMDEA has worked with REPIC to provide our members’ best guesses to help Defra with theirs.

The JTA (Joint Trade Association Group) comprises 10 trade associations (including AMDEA) working with three Producer Compliance Schemes (PCS) to improve the UK’s implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive.

Each year the JTA submits a proposal for a Compliance Fee mechanism as set out in the UK WEEE Regulations. The Compliance Fee provides an alternative for when PCSs are unable to reach their collection targets and any monies collected are spent on WEEE-related projects.

The WEEE Fund has just announced a study of WEEE flows to assess how much equipment bypasses the proper channels. There is always a gap between the number of appliances placed on the market and the number being collected. It is widely believed that this gap is wider than it ought to be because of unreported activity.