Under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, first introduced in 2007 and regularly updated, businesses must divert office computers, kitchen appliances and any other electrical equipment from landfill. This is to avoid harmful metals such as mercury, lead and cadmium, from soaking into landfill soils and polluting water supplies.

If you are looking for WEEE collections and WEEE waste disposal, we will ensure that all of your electrical and electronic equipment is taken to be dismantled and reused or recycled where possible. If you have electronic equipment which holds confidential information, our services are perfect for your business, because not only do we arrange collection services and removal of these items, but ensure all data is wiped before they are recycled and reprocessed.

Types of WEEE recycling waste 

The WEEE directive requires everything from fridges, IT and telecommunications equipment through to monitoring and control instruments to be diverted from landfill. Unfortunately, around 40% of the WEEE items generated in the UK are not reused or recycled. Tonnes are thrown away by households and businesses illegally which turns it into hazardous waste, and some is exported illegally where it finds its way to toxic e-waste dumps in developing countries, exposing local communities to dangerous chemicals.

If you can answer ‘yes’ to the following questions, then your electrical item can be recycled: Does it have a plug? Does it use batteries? Does it use a charger? Does it carry the WEEE wheelie bin logo?

Note: A black bar below the waste bin image indicates that the product was put on the market after 13 August 2005. If the image is used without a black bar, it should have a date noted underneath it.

WEEE, also referred to as e-waste, is basically any waste item that has electrical components, circuitry or a power supply. The regulations outline that there are 10 main categories of item which must not go to landfill:

  1. Large household appliances: including cookers, washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves, freezers and fridges
  2. Small household appliances: including toasters, irons, kettles, clocks and hoovers
  3. Lighting equipment: including high-intensity discharge lamps, straight and compact fluorescent tubes
  4. Electrical and electronic tools: including, saws, drills, electric lawnmowers and sewing machines
  5. Toys, leisure and sports equipment: including games consoles, toy cars etc with batteries, running machines and other gym equipment
  6. IT and telecommunications equipment: including laptops and personal computers, pocket calculators, telephones, printers and copying equipment
  7. Consumer equipment: including stereos, radios, televisions, video cameras, musical instruments, electric toothbrushes, hairdryers and sewing machines
  8. Automatic dispensers: including money dispensers, food dispensers and hot drink dispensers
  9. Monitoring and control equipment: including thermostats, heating regulators and smoke detectors
  10. Medical devices: including medical freezers, analysers, scanners, cardiology equipment and (non-infected) dialysis machine

In the UK we generate 1.45 million tonnes of WEEE per year, and this number is growing every day due to our increasing consumption of electronics, shorter device lifetimes and limited repair options. 

Where does WEEE waste go?

All items go to an Approved Authorised Treatment Facilities (AATF) for disposal, where they will guarantee that any waste recycling and final disposal are done in accordance with WEEE Regulations. The process involves shredding the items into small pieces ready to be recycled, then strong magnets are used to remove ferrous metals such as steel or non-magnetic metals like aluminium parts are separated using an eddy current. 

Recycling electrical items is extremely environmentally friendly because they contain really valuable raw materials saving resources and energy. Different plastics and raw materials are identified so they can be recycled. For example, zinc from mobile phones can be used for lamp posts or galvanised railings, gold found in gaming consoles can be made into jewellery, iron can be recycled into steel cans, and the possibilities of plastic are endless.

Let Erese Ltd arrange your WEEE waste disposal

Disposing of WEEE and adhering to Electronic Equipment WEEE Regulations can prove to be a challenge if you’re unsure of your legal obligations. We can ensure you dispose of your WEEE in the most environmentally-friendly and compliant way – whether it is for a regular scheduled collection, or a one off WEEE collection – let Erese Ltd take care of this for you. 

As a licensed waste carrier, we will abide by a duty of care to make sure your WEEE waste is collected and disposed of in the most efficient manner, recycling wherever we can. We will provide a waste transfer note free of charge for each different type of waste collected, which will show that we have conformed to legal requirements for each collection service including:

If you are looking for a professional commercial WEEE waste disposal service, or any other type of waste management service, we can help wherever you are in the UK. Contact our customer service team today for a free quote: 01375 258022 | info@ereseurope.net | www.ereseurope.co.uk

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