Environmental Briefing Note 2005-05

WEEE Directive and ROHS Directive

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive places requirements on producers of electrical and electronic equipment to finance the collection , treatment, recovery and disposal of products placed on the market after 13th August 2005 (subsequently put back to June 2006). Different arrangements apply for WEEE arising from products put on the market before 13th August 2005 (subsequently put back to June 2006) (known as historic WEEE). If historic WEEE from businesses is being replaced by new equivalent products, the EEE producer is responsible for financing the collection, treatment, recovery and disposal when supplying the new products. In other cases, for example where the historic WEEE is being disposed and not replaced, the end user (the business) has to pay.

Producers of electrical and electronic equipment have to register as such during January and February 2006. Products affected by WEEE will have a crossed out wheelie bin label on them. Implementation has however been delayed until June 2006.

Suitable arrangements should be made with waste operators to deal with any equipment being disposed of following this legislation.

The ROHS Directive

The ROHS Directive places maximum limits on certain elements and compounds in electrical and electronic products from the 1st July 2006. The list for metals is as follows:

Lead  0.1% by weight
Mercury  0.1% by weight
Hexavalent Chromium  0.1 % by weight
Cadmium – 0.01% by weight

The chromium in stainless steels will not be in the hexavalent form unless subjected to extreme heat – e.g. from welding. Exemptions are still being discussed and lead in brasses is one of them. Most metals and alloys should not be affected but if you are concerned about a specific alloy, please contact Jon Donohoe at Cti.

For further information follow the links below:

Europa: Environment – WEEE Directive      
http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/waste/weee_index.htm

Help from Envirowise:
http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/page.aspx?o=weee
http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/page.aspx?o=rohs

Jon Donohoe
Manager – Environmental Services
19th October 2005