WEEE Regulations and Recycling
WEEE
On the 2 January 2007 the UK Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations came into force. WEEE is a new piece of producer responsibility legislation which aims to reduce the amount of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) ending up in landfill. Instead the regulations require the collection, treatment, recycling and environmentally sound disposal of WEEE. The regulations affect all brand owners, importers and distributors or retailers of EEE.
Introducing WEEE
The WEEE regulations require producers of EEE to finance the recycling costs of EEE at its end-of-life. All obligated producers must register with a compliance scheme or risk prosecution.
R K Photographic is fulfilling their distributor obligations as a member of the WEEE Distributor Take back Scheme and is providing consumer information through www.recycle-more.co.uk
WEEE Compliance Statement
Why are we involved?
Recycling facilities are now available for all customers at which you can deposit your old
electrical products. This is a requirement under UK and European legislation (The Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment – or WEEE – Directive). The aim of the legislation is
to;
• Make good use of the materials that make up old electrical equipment by
recycling rather than disposing in landfill.
• Prevent the negative environmental effects of sending often hazardous
electrical equipment to landfill.
As a conscientious business, R K Photographic has chosen to group together
with other retailers in joining the ‘Distributor Take Back Scheme’. Through this scheme,
we have paid toward the provision of improved of recycling facilities for our customers.
How does this work in practice?
Customers will be able to take any old electrical equipment to participating civic amenity
sites (often known as ‘household waste recycling centres’) run by their local councils.
Please remember that this equipment will be further handled during the recycling
process, so please be considerate when depositing your equipment.
Funding collected through the Distributor Take Back Scheme has been distributed
between all Local Authorities in the UK to ensure the provision of improved recycling
facilities. Producers of these products will then ensure that deposited items are taken
away and recycled.
Where to dispose of electrical equipment?
Wherever practical, old electrical waste should not be disposed of with your household
waste.
You can locate your closest participating collection site at www.recycle-more.co.uk
(please remember to have your postcode to hand).
Other information
UK households dispose of over 1.2 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste every
year. This is the equivalent of 150,000 double decker buses and would be enough to fill
the new Wembley Stadium 6 times over.
Much of the UK’s electronic waste ends up in landfill sites, where toxins put communities
at risk. Failure to segregate any type of recyclable material in the home will usually result
in items being disposed of in a landfill site (buried in the ground in the UK) or being
incinerated.
To remind you to recycle, all new electrical products are marked with a crossed out wheeled bin symbol.
WEEE Statement
Please help us to minimise the effect we have on the environment by recycling your
waste electrical goods. To see the R K Photographic policy on recycling your old
electrical products, please visit www.thedarkroom.co.uk. For advice on all aspects of
recycling, including recycling of waste electronic equipment, please visit www.recyclemore.
co.uk where you can find out the locations of collection points near to you.
Much of the UK’s electronic waste ends up in landfill sites, where toxins put communities
at risk. Please recycle your equipment as failure to segregate any type of recyclable
material in the home will usually result in items being disposed of in a landfill site (buried
in the ground in the UK) or being incinerated. To find out more about recycling electrical
waste, please visit www.recycle-more.co.uk, or click here to read our full policy.
With effect from July 2007, the UK’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
Regulations require that all producers of electrical equipment are now obliged to pay for
these items to be recycled when they become waste. These regulations also require that
all retailers both actively assist in delivering a UK wide WEEE collection infrastructure
and encourage the participation of consumers in recycling electronic equipment.
So that you can get your waste electrical goods recycled, we have contributed towards a
national fund to assist local councils to further develop their existing waste electronics
collection facilities, which will in turn allow producers of this equipment to meet their
obligations. To remind consumers to recycle, all electrical items sold now carry the
‘crossed out wheeled bin’ symbol.
Not all council sites are suitable to collect all types of waste electrical goods but to find
out your nearest participating site (including other collection facilities that may not be
operated by the council) and for advice on all aspects of recycling at home, please visit
www.recycle-more.co.uk.
Electronic waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams and much of it can be
recycled and resources recovered to make new consumer goods. To ensure your waste
electronics don’t contribute to damaging the environment, please use www.recyclemore.
co.uk and recycle today.
In order to partially meet our obligations as a distributor as defined in the UK Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations (SI 2006 No. 3289 - 11
December 2006), we have opted to become a full member of the Distributor Take back
Scheme (DTS) as defined in regulation 35 of the WEEE Regulations.
As a member of the DTS, we have made a financial contribution toward the development
of the network of Designated Collection Facilities (DCFs) for WEEE instead of collecting
waste items instore. This financial contribution is described in paragraphs 83 to 88 of the
UK WEEE guidance, and has been used to improve the WEEE collection facilities
located at Local Authority Civic Amenity sites. To locate your local WEEE collection site,
please visit www.recycle-more.co.uk or contact our customer services department.