e3 Toolkit - What are the WEEE and RoHS Directives?

What are the WEEE and RoHS Directives? / FAQs for WEEE

FAQs for WEEE

What is the WEEE Directive?

What is the objective of the WEEE Directive?

What are the key provisions of the Directive?

To whom will the WEEE Directive apply?

Who will the WEEE Directive affect?

What are the key criteria for determining whether equipment is within the scope of WEEE Directive?

How will historic waste be financed?

What will be the collection responsibilities where WEEE arises in the commercial/industrial waste stream?

How will Orphan Products be dealt with?

When will producers have to take action?

Who is a producer?

How will the WEEE Directive impact products containing brominated flame retardants?

What is the definition of 'Put on the Market?

Why do we have the WEEE and RoHS Directives and are they really necessary?

Are the WEEE and RoHS Directives 'Single Market' Directives?

Will producers have to re-acquire their old products to recycle them?

Will it be illegal for householders to dispose of electrical and electronic equipment in their dustbins?

What is the WEEE Directive?

The Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) aims to increase the recycling and recovery of WEEE through mechanical recycling, feedstock recycling and energy recovery. The Directive will require the separation of most electrical and electronic equipment from the unsorted waste produced throughout Europe. This electrical and electronic waste will then be collected, recycled and re-used in a process that will be the financial responsibility of the producers.

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What is the objective of the WEEE Directive?

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive aims to reduce the quantity of waste from end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment and increase re-use, recovery and recycling.

What are the key provisions of the Directive?

European Union Member States are required to establish systems to encourage the separate collection of WEEE and are to set up systems which will allow the return of WEEE free of charge to the final holder.

In the UK there will be no mandatory requirement for householders to separate all WEEE but Member States must seek to minimise co-disposal and encourage appropriate behaviour. Retailers may be required to ensure that WEEE is taken back on a one-for-one basis when a new, equivalent type, product is supplied. If they do not offer this service then the retailer must join a retailer compliance scheme.

By the end of 2006, Member States must achieve a collection rate of at least 4Kg, on average, per inhabitant per year of WEEE from private households. Member States must also ensure that all separately collected WEEE is transported to authorised treatment facilities. Member States are to ensure that systems are set up by producers to provide for recovery and reuse of separately collected WEEE according to set recovery, reuse and recycling targets. Targets are set as a proportion of collected WEEE from private households.

There will also be significant data reporting obligations. Producer financing should ultimately be based on an individual approach but with some flexibility. In the early years it is likely that a market share approach to responsibility will be used. In the final text of the Directive there is also room to consider how historic WEEE is financed, including the possibility of a visible fee charged on new products for a period of time. Producers will also have to provide guarantees for the financing of future waste in order to minimise the quantity of orphan WEEE.

To whom will the WEEE Directive apply?

The WEEE Directive will have implications for any organisation which supplies electrical and/or electronic equipment to any or all of the States of the European Union. The legal and financial responsibility lies with “producers” of electrical and electronic equipment. “Producers” are defined as any organisation which manufactures and sells under its own brand, resells product under its own brand, or imports on a professional basis into an EU Member State. Typically, products fall into the following groupings:

Large Household Appliances
Small Household Appliances
IT and Telecommunications Equipment
Consumer Equipment
Lighting Equipment
Electrical and Electronic Tools
Toys, Leisure and Sports Equipment
Medical Equipment Systems
Monitoring and Control Instruments
Automatic Dispensers

If a company supplies goods falling into these broad categories, whether it is a power tool or a sophisticated medical device, the organisation will have a legal obligation to comply with the legislation.

Who will the WEEE Directive affect?

The WEEE Directive will affect all businesses in some way, from product designers to end users. However, the WEEE directive is really all about the disposal of the product at the end of its life, and to whom that obligation falls. Companies will need to establish where in the supply chain they fall and what they will be obliged to do. To fully understand the requirements we recommend reading the Directive itself and the UK version of the regulations.

Equipment that meets the criteria below is considered to be covered by the WEEE Directive.

Is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly, or is equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields.

Is designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1000 Volts for alternating current and 1500 Volts for direct current.

Is not a product that is intended for specifically military purposes.

Is not part of another type of equipment that does not fall under the scope of the Directive.

How will historic waste be financed?

Producers will be allowed to show the cost of recycling historic waste at the point of sale of new products (this is known as the visible fee). This is to be time-limited to a maximum of eight years for most products (10 years for large household appliances). For business-to-business sales the Directive puts the responsibility for historic products with the producer only if the product is being replaced on a like-for-like basis. If the end user disposes the product without replacing it they will be held responsible for its recovery and recycling.

What will be the collection responsibilities where WEEE arises in the commercial/industrial waste stream?

Producers will pay for all costs related to new WEEE arising in the commercial/industrial stream including collection (unlike WEEE arising in the household waste stream, where retailers are responsible for collection). There is an option for the business discarding the WEEE to share costs with the obligated producer, or to pay all costs. This will be a commercial decision and is likely to be an important part of the normal negotiating processes for supply contracts in the future.

How will Orphan Products be dealt with?

Products which are separately collected as WEEE and the “producer” is no longer in existence are known as orphan products or orphan WEEE. All products will be marked in some way to ensure that the producer is clearly identifiable. Producers of consumer products will have to provide financial guarantees when placing products on the market to ensure that future waste management costs will be covered.

The guarantee could be via, for example, a blocked bank account, recycling insurance or participation in an appropriate scheme.

The costs of historic household orphan WEEE will be shared by producers in the market at the time that it is collected.

When will producers have to take action?

In each Member State producers will need to label product in line with the requirements of the WEEE Directive after the regulations have been published in that state. Once the requirements of the WEEE Directives are in place producers must guarantee the future costs of WEEE for equipment sold in Europe. They will have to finance the cost of collecting WEEE and of meeting the recovery and recycling targets for categories of products. Producers must also provide finance for the processing of historic waste i.e. waste arising from product put on the market before the regulations commenced.

Who is a producer?

The definition of a 'producer' of electrical or electronic products includes companies which manufacture electrical or electronic products, but also importers of electrical and electronic products. The majority of electrical and electronic products used in the UK have been imported. Many UK 'producers' will actually therefore be importers.

How will the WEEE Directive impact products containing brominated flame retardants?

The WEEE Directive will require the separation of plastics containing brominated flame retardants (BFRs) prior to recycling, energy recovery or disposal. In practice, in many EU countries, separation of all flame-retardant plastics will be required for WEEE. For example, this is already a legislative requirement in Denmark.

What is the definition of 'Put on the Market'?

The definition of ‘Put on the Market’ should mean the initial action of making a product available for the first time on the community market, with a view to distribution or use in the community. For imported products this is when it clears customs for the first time in the EU. For product manufactured in the EU this is when the product has moved from the “phase of manufacture” to the stage of distribution. Making available can be either for payment or free of charge. This definition has been successfully applied to other Directives.

Why do we have the WEEE and RoHS Directives and are they really necessary?

Implementing the Directives’ requirements should reduce risks to human health and harm to the environment through the proper treatment of waste and a reduction in the use of hazardous substances. Benefits are also expected through the conservation of raw materials and of energy resources. In particular, the WEEE Directive will help to divert hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste from landfill and the RoHS Directive should help future recycling by reducing the need for special handling and thus enabling a reduction in recycling costs.

Are the WEEE and RoHS Directives 'Single Market' Directives?

‘Single Market’ Directives are a specific type of EU legislation that applies to all Member States and must be implemented in the same way in each to prevent differences in interpretation across the Union. This is especially important for Directives setting standards for products, since it means that manufacturers won’t have to make different products for each Member State. The WEEE Directive is not a single market directive. It sets minimum criteria that member states may exceed if they wish; therefore its implementation will differ slightly from one Member State to another. The RoHS Directive is a single market directive and therefore should apply in the same way across the EEA.

Will producers have to re-acquire their old products to recycle them?

Producers may decide to set up ‘closed loop’ systems in order to ensure their products are returned so that they can carry out the necessary treatment, recycling and recovery themselves. However, this will not be a legal requirement. Producer responsibility is interpreted as ‘financial’ producer responsibility i.e. producers will need to be able to provide some evidence that they have contributed towards the financial costs of treating, recycling and recovering any WEEE, which has been separately collected.

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Will it be illegal for householders to dispose of electrical and electronic equipment in their dustbins?

The WEEE Directive will not make it illegal for householders to dispose of electrical and electronic equipment in their dustbins. However, facilities will be established to encourage individuals and businesses to separate their waste electrical equipment. The individual or company discarding the waste appliance or equipment will be able to decide whether or not to make use of the facility. Some Member States do restrict domestic waste disposal but this is not part of the WEEE Directive.