17Jul

Upward trend for WEEE recycling

Posted on 17th July, 2019

Collections of household waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) appear to be on an upward trend when compared to previous quarters, figures published last month have suggested.

Nevertheless, collections may still not be reaching the rate needed to meet government-set targets, which have been described as ‘challenging’ by a number of sector experts.

Data on the volume of household WEEE collected for recycling was published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last month (June 2019) and covered the first three months of the year.

For 2019, Defra has confirmed an overall goal for WEEE compliance schemes to collect a total of 550,577 tonnes of WEEE for the year in March, an increase of roughly 12% than the total amount of household WEEE collected and reported by compliance schemes in 2018.

The first quarter data offers the first glimpse of how schemes are progressing towards targets and in comparison to previous years. This week’s figures indicate that around 2,000 tonnes more material was collected in 2019 Q1 compared to the same three-month period in 2018.

A notable increase was seen in the large household appliances category, where collections were recorded at a higher level than at any point in 2018.

A similar increase occurred in the cooling appliances category, with collections having increased by 1,900 tonnes compared to the same period in 2018.

Overall, it appears that targets across across all categories of WEEE will need considerable efforts if the targets are to be met.