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Waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE)

Electronics recycling is an emerging industry that is at a critical point in its development, in terms of growth and challenges. As the production and use of electronics products continues to increase dramatically throughout both the business and consumer sectors, the challenges of disposal and recovery of materials are becoming significant.

Advancements in technology mean that people are continually updating their electronic equipment including replacing videos with DVD players, tape players with CD players, TV's for flat screens and upgrading computers for faster and smaller models. The governments WEEE Directive strives to address this.

The WEEE Directive
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and RHOS Directives are complex pieces of producer responsibility legislation that will soon affect many groups producing and handling electrical and waste electrical products.

The RoHS Directive
The Restriction on Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) directive will mainly affect organisations that specify and produce Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) and the WEEE Directive will impact on organisations throughout the waste and recycling supply chain. Together these directives will change the life cycle of EEE and influence organisations throughout the supply chain.

With the emphasis on producer responsibility, manufacturers will be responsible for the cost of meeting these obligations, but London's current and future recycling industries, local authorities and the community sector will all play a major role in ensuring the successful implementation of the directive and meeting its targets.

In order for London to meet the requirements of the directive, the tonnage of WEEE materials recycled will need to rise significantly, but no firm estimate of the likely tonnage is yet available. London Remade believes that the amount of WEEE that needs to be recycled abd could double in the next 7 years.

London Remade has carried out a number of studies to estimate the impact of WEEE legislation on London.

• The WEEE Directive: Implications and Opportunities for London
  
• Closed-Loop Analysis of WEEE Reuse & Recycling activity in London
  
• London Remade Civic Amenity Site Profiling
  
• Potential Markets for WEEE

While London faces significant challenges as a result of these Directives, London Remade believes that the Directive offers significant opportunities in the sustainable management of WEEE and has organised its resources to ensure it can address issues across the entire supply chain.

View the service providers list here to find out where you can recycle WEEE.

London Remade's three core business teams will all be involved in delivering solutions for WEEE:

London Remade Team	Supply chain issues	Target materials	Current and possible future projects
Infrastructure & Business support	Lack of reuse, pre-treatment and reprocessing facilities in London	Plastics CRT Reuse Specialist (e.g. medical equipment, servers)	MBABywatersCRISPFRN Regional Centres
Support Service (collection)	Meeting 4kg per capita in London CA sites as WEEE centres New bring facilities for WEEE WEEE facilities for commercial waste	All materials. Hazardous waste regulations mean some are more tightly controlled	Full survey of all London's CA completed Lewisham trials Bexley trials
Mayor's Green Procurement Code	Finding markets for WEEE Developing markets for recycled WEEE	All WEEE Plastics CRT glass