Approved WEEE compliance schemes announced

Producers have until 15 March to sign up to an approved scheme

The Environment Agency (EA) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), have today published their final list of approved producer compliance schemes (PCSs) for the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.

Bob Mead, WEEE project manager at the EA, said: "From 1 July 2007, producers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), including manufacturers, rebranders and importers will be responsible for paying for the treatment and recycling of products at the end of their life."

"These producers will have to join a compliance scheme that will help them meet the requirements of the regulations by collecting and recycling products on their behalf. They have until 15 March 2007 to join any of the 37 approved schemes and with a wide choice of approved schemes, we urge producers to find the one that's best for them," said Mead.

As part of the registration process, producers will need to pay a registration fee to their preferred compliance scheme and supply data on how much EEE they placed onto the market in 2006. They may be charged a membership fee, which the individual schemes will decide on.

Each compliance scheme will then have until 31 March 2007 to register its members with the relevant environment agency, which will issue each producer with a producer registration number. The producer will need to give this registration number to anyone who distributes or sells its products, including resellers.

The 37 PCSs approved by the EA and SEPA are:

For contact details of each scheme, visit www.environment-agency.gov.uk/weee or contact the Environment Agency on 08708 506 506.

Further reading:

PCA offers insurance scheme for WEEE risks