The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) announced late last year that there are plans to implement the idea of ‘dual use’ into WEEE recycling. This announcement highlights a change of how products are classified and how products which are used by both businesses and household consumers are labelled. There is hope this change will further improve the WEEE legislation already in place and increase rates of WEEE recycling, ensuring a larger proportion of producers are taking their responsibilities seriously.
The changes are scheduled to come into effect from January 2016 which gives the government time to collect enough WEEE data this year and classify products accordingly.
How does the new classification work?
WEEE has always been classified by its nature and quantity in the UK but the government are now changing this to ensure the UK’s classification is in line with the rest of the European Commission. In Europe the methods used for classification are solely based upon whether electrical and electronic equipment is used by both private homes and businesses or not. The UK guidance from 2016 will say that any WEEE of the same type that could be used in a household will be classed as household WEEE. This will mean items like computers and televisions, even in bulk.
What does this actually mean?
This new legislation puts more responsibility on the producers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and throughout 2015 the producers of these types of products will be required to report their data in line with the new dual-use classification.
All EEE products will now be considered as business to consumer (B2C) unless the producers can provide genuine evidence that the product is not ever intended for use in domestic environments.
Finally, from January 2016, EEE producers will be subject to a B2C financing obligation dependent on the market share of all the dual-use EEE that enters the market based on the 2015 figures. This change should make collecting data simpler and ensure more equipment is handled efficiently and recycled effectively, helping to move closer to government expectations for WEEE recycling.
What does this mean for me?
As a business owner who simply uses EEE there is no direct effect. Your equipment will remain your equipment and it’s only when it’s passed beyond your recycling partner than it will be satisfied. Developments and changes to the WEEE legislation in the UK is not something any of our clients need to worry about as it’s something we take the initiative on and ensure we’re always complying with. We like to highlight changes such as this for your interest and understanding but when it comes to your computer and IT recycling, Buy IT Back will carry out the same services and offer the same prices and quotes as before.
