Waste electrical and electronic equipment reform consultation: equalities impact assessment

Background

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013 (the WEEE Regulations )^[2] provide for a degree of producer responsibility for electrical products placed on the market. Producers have supported an increase in the recycling rate of WEEE, ensured WEEE that is correctly disposed of is managed correctly, and reduced environmental impacts from poorly managed WEEE.

The proposals laid out in the accompanying consultation aim to encourage greater reuse and recycling by making it more convenient for the public to deal with their WEEE responsibly. The consultation also proposes to expand the scope of producer responsibilities to online marketplaces and distributors; and finally, to ensure that producers of vapes properly finance recycling and disposal costs when they become waste.

Items currently collected via the existing WEEE PR scheme via local authority Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs) and directly from retailers are well managed under the WEEE regulations. However it is believed a significant volume of WEEE is lost due to incorrect disposal by households. UK-wide research from Material Focus indicates there is still only a 57% recycling rate, with over 450,000t of WEEE disposed of through residual waste streams^[3]. Of this, 155,000t is estimated to arise in household residual waste.

The current system for collection and proper treatment of WEEE is based on ‘collective producer responsibility’. Producers contribute based on their market share in specified equipment categories, but do not have to reprocess their own equipment. The WEEE regulations have led to separate collections of household WEEE, primarily via HWRCs and retailers. Industry have funded the cost of collection and proper treatment since 2007^[4].

Businesses which place electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) from 14 broad categories on the UK market are obligated to comply with these regulations. These apply to businesses that produce and/or distribute EEE in the UK.

Obligations vary depending on whether:

• A manufacturer or producer places more or less than 5 tonnes of EEE onto the UK market
• A distributor sells more or less than £100,000 worth of EEE annually
• A distributor has a physical store/retail space or is an online/distance seller

The current WEEE PR system does not fully meet the requirement that producers bear fiscal responsibility for all impacts of the products they place on the market. As such, they are not incentivised to reduce these impacts, to advance circular outcomes from their products and are not responsible for all the environmental impacts created by their products at end of life.

EPR is a well-established principle around the world and places the costs of managing products at end-of-life on producers in line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle. EPR will reform the existing WEEE Producer Responsibility scheme^[5] and will apply to the whole of the UK.