subject: Implementation Of The Weee Computer Disposal Directives In The Uk [print this page] There was a time when electronic and electrical wastes used to be disposed of along with household or municipal wastes in the UK. Even highly hazardous wastes used to be disposed of with these materials. However, as soon as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive came into effect in 2003, the process of demarcating hazardous IT materials started off which completely nullified the conventional computer disposal methods. How can you know whether and electrical or electronic equipment is hazardous or not. In the UK, materials of this type come with six-digit number tags. The packing containers of these hazardous materials also contain a star mark.
What are the equipments that fall in this category? Lead batteries and uninterrupted power supplies are considered the most hazardous elements. Apart from that, CFT monitors and televisions are also mooted as hazardous materials as because these things contain cathode ray tubes. Laptop screen backlights and thin film transistors also fall in this category. Electronic and electrical equipments that contain the PCB or polychlorinated biphenyl are deemed as wastes that can cause cancer and other diseases. Freezers and fridges are also tagged as toxic equipments that should not be disposed of with other sorts of materials.
The Designated Collection Centers or DCFs play a vital part in the entire WEEE directed IT disposal mechanism in the UK. The IT wastes are first collected from the residential or commercial users and then delivered to these DCFs. After that, the wastes are categorized and sent for recycling or other sorts of treatments. There are many privatized facilities across the UK managing the job of collecting the wastes from households and commercial establishments. The authorized treatment facilities are the major components of the whole WEEE compliant disposal and recycling system of the country.
After recycling, the total weights of different categories of e-waste are measured and accordingly reported to the Producer Compliance Scheme. All these recycled materials are then collected by the environment agencies and reported to the European Union. However, complications arose when the double-reporting cases came into existence. It was a pure miscommunication between the waste collection agencies and the national e0-waste management entity. An integrated computer disposal mechanism was initiated to fix the issue.
Pertinent to WEEE Directive, there are several other legislations currently in effect in the UK. These governing rules and regulations are The Environment Protection (Duty of Care) Act 1991, Hazardous Waste Regulations (England & Wales) 2005 and Waste Framework Directive 2008. The WEEE directive is based on three simple words, reduce, reuse and recycle.
