Electrical and electronic waste - The WEEE Directive

To cut down huge amount of non-degradable electrical and electronic equipment which ends up in landfill sites, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive became a legal obligation on firms on 1st July 2007.

Much electrical waste (eg TVs, radios, PCs, telephones together with the electronic circuit boards (PCBs) which are inside will take years to decay. Some of it (eg the circuit boards and other plastic) is essentially non-degradable and will be there for a very long time! Some of the metals in electrical goods (eg cadmium, mercury) are highly toxic to humans, as well as animal and plant life.

While the UK importer or manufacturer is "the producer" (the term used in the Directive), the "supplier" (eg the installer or retailer)) is still responsible for collecting any WEEE and returning it to the "producer" for proper disposal.

To simply matters for the consumer, the UK Government has introduced a levy on producers to cover the cost of dealing with Domestic WEEE via local authority waste tips. Not all refuse sites will have this facility however and the end-user will need to check with a particular site to establish this.

The arrangements for WEEE disposal from Domestic and Commercial premises are different.

• DOMESTIC waste - in view of the levy described above, we encourage the householder to take any WEEE to their local waste tip where it will be accepted free. Because of this levy producers have already paid to Government, its disposal has in effect already been paid for.

• If the domestic customer insists we (as the supplier) take it away (which they can) we are obliged to do so but can make a reasonable charge for doing so.

• COMMERCIAL waste - the Supplier (eg blitz security) MUST collect from the customer, but can make a reasonable charge for doing so.

Charges for collection and disposal of WEEE from customers' premises by blitz security group are presently £15.00 +VAT for 10kgs (minimum charge) + £1.00 per additional kilogram.

(Prices effective 1.1.08)