Recycling / WEEE
The WEEE Directive
Recycling Electrical Equipment
The Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive is now UK law. The legislation aims to make producers pay for the collection, treatment and recovery of waste electrical equipment. The regulations also means suppliers of equipment like high street shops and internet retailers must also play their part as distributors of electrical goods.
The amount of WEEE thrown away each year is increasing by around 5% each year, making it the fastest growing waste stream in the UK. Much of this WEEE ends up in traditional landfill sites where the lead and other toxins it contains can cause soil & water contamination. This can have a harmful effect on natural habitats, wildlife & human health.
Many electrical items can indeed be repaired or recycled, recycling items helps to save our natural finite resources and also helps reduce the environmental and health risks associated with sending electrical goods to landfill.
Distributors (such as retailers) of new Electric & Electronic Equipment (EEE) have a part to play in reducing the amount of WEEE going into landfill sites.
We are members of the Government’s Distributor Take Back Scheme (DTS) – registration ID 700298, which means we have contributed to a nationwide compliance scheme to allow civic amenity sites around the UK to be upgraded to allow the separate collection & disposal of WEEE related products by you the consumer, called Designated Collection Facilities (DCF’s).
Under the WEEE regulations, all new electrical goods should now be marked with a crossed out wheelie bin symbol, goods marked with this symbol show that they are produced after 13 August 2005 and should be disposed of separately from normal household waste so that they can be recycled. Contributors to the DTS have allowed your local Civic Amenity (CA) site to handle these items for you – please do recycle your waste electrical appliances at your local CA site.
In fulfilling our distributor obligations as a member of the WEEE Distributor Take Back Scheme we are providing consumer information through www.recycle-more.co.uk in accordance with the WEEE Regulations 2006. Please take the time to read the information available in more detail and find your local CA site when you need to dispose of a used electrical appliance, however large or small, you may be surprised what items now have the crossed out wheelie bin symbol on them!
Helping to recycle your electrical equipment
Why are we involved?
Recycling facilities are now available for all customers at which you can deposit your old electrical products. This is a requirement under UK and European legislation (The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment – or WEEE – Directive). The aim of the legislation is to prevent the negative environmental effects of sending often hazardous electrical equipment to landfill.
As a conscientious business, Colour Supplies has chosen to group together with other retailers in joining the ‘Distributor Take Back Scheme’. Through this scheme, we have paid toward the provision of improved recycling facilities for our customers.
How does this work in practice?
Customers will be able to take any old electrical equipment to participating civic amenity sites (often known as ‘household waste recycling centres’) run by their local councils. Please remember that this equipment will be further handled during the recycling process, so please be considerate when depositing your equipment. Funding collected through the Distributor Take Back Scheme has been distributed between all Local Authorities in the UK to ensure the provision of improved recycling facilities. Producers of these products will then ensure that deposited items are taken away and recycled.
Where to dispose of electrical equipment?
Wherever practical, old electrical waste should not be disposed of with your household waste. You can locate your closest participating collection site at www.recycle-more.co.uk (please remember to have your postcode to hand).
Other information
UK households dispose of over 1.2 million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste every year. This is the equivalent of 150,000 double decker buses and would be enough to fill Wembley Stadium 6 times over. Much of the UK’s electronic waste ends up in landfill sites, where toxins put communities at risk. Failure to segregate any type of recyclable material in the home will usually result in items being disposed of in a landfill site (buried in the ground in the UK) or being incinerated. To remind you to recycle, all new electrical products are marked with a crossed out wheeled bin symbol.