The acronym ‘WEEE’ stands for ‘waste electrical and electronic equipment’. The WEEE Directive was introduced by the British government in January 2007 and was set up by the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Regulations 2006.
The aim of the WEEE Directive is to reduce the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment that goes into landfill. The WEEE Directive encourages citizens to think about where their waste electrical items will go and to recover their electrical items and reuse or recycle them. The WEEE Directive also lays out guidelines for businesses to help them to manage the reuse and recycling of any electronic waste.
How does the WEEE Directive affect home owners?
The WEEE Directive is all about reducing electronic waste and for householders this means reducing the amount of electronic waste they dispose of and if it is completely necessary to dispose of an electronic item, the WEEE Directive gives instructions on how to do so safely.
The most simple way that home owners can help the WEEE Directive is to keep any waste electronic items separate from normal household waste. This means that any leakage from electronic products does not contaminate the other waste, especially if the other waste is recyclable in the future. Please note that disposing of WEEE items in your normal household bin is not illegal but it is advised that you do not and find a safe way of disposing of the WEEE items instead. There are so many recycling companies on the market that will pay for your old electronic items that is a fantastic opportunity to make some money on your old electrical items and to help look after the environment at the same time.
There are many ways to dispose safely of your WEEE items and most of them require very little effort on your part:
Go to your local Civic Centre and see if they have a WEEE recycling scheme
Go back to the retailer where you bought your electronic item and see if they will take it back for recycling.
This option involves going back to the retailer too but asking if the retailers supplier will take your old item back to the factory for recycling when they have their next delivery.
If you are reading this article then you will have been looking into mobile phone or gadget recycling. Take advantage of recycling companies and get paid to recycle your old WEEE item. This is a great option as not only will you get paid for your item, you will also have peace of mind that your item is being recycled safely and in accordance with the WEEE Directive.
How does the WEEE Directive affect businesses?
Everyone knows that when a business produces waste they have a responsibility to dispose of it safely. This is where the WEEE Directive comes in. Although it is not law that home owners follow the WEEE Directive, it is law that businesses (including schools and hospitals) ensure that all their WEEE items are separated from normal waste and disposed of carefully and safely.
This doesn’t always mean paying for disposing of your items. In some cases the manufacturer is responsible for recycling electronic items that they made. There is more information on this on the government’s environmental website: www.environment-agency.gov.uk
