Consumers pay for WEEE recycling laws

Consumers will soon have to start counting the cost of a European Union (EU) environmental initiative.

From next July, retailers and manufacturers will be responsible for the disposal of the electrical and electronic devices they produce; but they can ultimately pass much of this cost on to the consumer.

Under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, recycling this waste is the responsibility of the manufacturer under the 'producer pays' ethos.

With the average UK consumer producing around three tons of WEEE, including old computers, electronic toys, tools and gadgets in their lifetime, the EU wants to stop this junk ending up in landfill.

This directive will finally come in to force in the UK in July 2007; nearly two years after it was originally supposed to have been implemented.

Originally the new law was not meant to cost the consumer anything. Retailers or manufacturers had to take back old products, such as a PC, when a new one was bought on a 'like-for-like' basis.

The WEEE directive still requires manufacturers and sellers to provide 'take-back' facilities that will allow consumers to easily get rid of computers and other pieces of electronics that have come to the end of their lives.

Under the new law, local authorities will set up WEEE areas at local recycling plants, funded by manufacturers and retailers.

Retailers must let customers know what take-back arrangements they have in place. To comply this means either taking back old products in store or by becoming part of a retailer take-back compliance scheme.

However, while it will be illegal for retailers or manufacturers to charge the public to recycle old goods, if the consumer can't get to one of the take-back facilities, companies  will be allowed to levy a charge for picking up old devices.

Although no prices have so far been announced for the collection service, Dixons currently charges £20 for collection and scrapping of old goods.

In addition retailers and some manufacturers warn that the price of new electrical and electronic products will rise to offset the costs to the producer of recycling.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which will administer the scheme, has estimated that the costs to producers and retailers will be between £73 million to £100 million from the Directive every year.

Although the DTI denied that the scheme would see consumers paying more, using countries such as Germany where WEEE is already implemented to show prices haven't risen, energy minister Malcolm Wicks admitted companies could pass on these costs to the consumer. This could be through a "visible fee" on the sale of new goods.

He said he hoped responsible producers would not do this and swallow the costs.

However, Nick Walter from PC seller Mesh said that prices to consumers will rise to meet the costs of recycling:

"There will be a de-facto charge for the recycling whether it's shown up front or not, in terms of factoring the cost into the prices of computers."

The DTI is running a consultation to find out exactly how the law should work in the UK, and is encouraging the public to contribute using the response forms on the department's website.