To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that all household e-waste is recycled.
Answered on
24 April 2019
The current 2013 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations require producers to pay for the environmentally sound collection, treatment and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) when it becomes waste.
Producers are set annual WEEE collection targets and finance the full cost of collection and proper treatment of household WEEE, including costs incurred by local authorities, which in turn must enable householders to deposit WEEE for recycling at household waste recycling centres.
Retailers of EEE are required to either offer a like for like in-store take back upon sale of a new item of EEE or to provide funding support for local authorities to support collection, recycling and reuse of WEEE.
The Government funds guidance for householders, including a postcode search function for UK WEEE disposal locations, available at: www.recyclenow.com.
Any producers that fail to meet their household WEEE collection target are required to contribute to a fund which provides further support to local authorities to support increased WEEE collections, leading to higher levels of recycling and reuse of unwanted WEEE.
As laid out in our ambitious Resources and Waste Strategy, the Government will consult on reforms to the WEEE producer responsibility regime to drive more sustainable product design and further increase recycling rates by the end of 2020.