Schemes offer alternative routes to compliance

Materials reclamation specialist offers producers of electrical and electronic equipment two alternative ways of ensuring compliance with the WEEE Directive.

As British companies and public authorities get to grips with their obligations under the WEEE Directive, the North West based materials reclamation specialist Recycling.co.uk is offering producers of electrical and electronic equipment two alternative ways of ensuring compliance with the law.

On 1st July 2007, new regulations came into force governing the way in which organisations dispose of their waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

In addition to placing responsibilities on the end user, the directive states that the producers of such equipment must also put in place an accountable mechanism for showing that they are managing their waste properly.

In many cases, OEMs are doing so via a producer compliance scheme, and as an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility, Recycling.co.uk is now serving a number of such schemes, providing formal documentation to demonstrate that participating manufacturers are meeting their legal responsibilities.

Under producer compliance schemes, Recycling.co.uk is collecting and processing waste from OEMs and local authorities throughout the UK - from the North of England to the Midlands and the Home Counties.

Its GBP 750,000 WEEE recycling centre is now working close to full capacity and within the next three months, the company plans to invest a further GBP1 million in the construction of a new, larger facility.

However, although many companies are now subscribing to producer compliance schemes, others have fallen through the net for a variety of reasons or have simply chosen to make other, individual arrangements.

For such businesses - which include a number of large blue chip manufacturers - Recycling.co.uk is offering bespoke recycling contracts, as Managing Director Charles Jackson explains.

"For some producers, existing compliance schemes don't necessarily provide an ideal solution, either because they lack flexibility or because the company in question has identified a more cost effective way to meet its responsibilities".

"We can work with companies whichever way they choose to go; we are servicing several compliance schemes, which are proving to be very successful and relatively simple to adminiser, but we are also providing a number of large producers with an individually tailored business-to-business service".

"We provide this service to many well known names in the electronic and domestic goods industries - companies such as Epson and Morphy Richards - to local councils and to some manufacturers that people might not normally associate with waste electrical equipment".

"For example, we are now taking and recycling large consignments of vending machines from Nestle".

All the collected items are broken down and separated into their constituent materials which are processed in readiness for sales as industrial raw materials.

However in an effort to maximise the sustainability of its operations, Recycling.co.uk is now examining the feasibility of on site manufacturing - creating its own new products direct from recyclate.

Products in development include plastic boards and glass aggregates for the construction and public amenity industries.

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