Environmentally Friendly Computing - WEEE Legislation

We will ensure your company conforms to I.T disposal legislation. Current legislation you must be aware of!

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment - EU Directive 2003.

The WEEE, EU Directive came into force in February 2003 and provides for the safe disposal of anything that requires an electrical current to flow through it to operate, has to be recycled in accordance with the standards set out in the directive. This includes all I.T. equipment.

The Data Protection Act 1998

The Data Protection Act requires that all information collected by an organisation be destroyed when the media on which it is stored becomes redundant, failure to do so may result in Crown Court Prosecution and unlimited fines, including personal compensation claims.

The Environment Act

Your company has a DUTY of CARE to take all reasonable measures to:-

Prevent the unauthorised or harmful disposal of waste by another person.
Prevent the escape of the waste from your or any other person`s control.
Ensure the transfer of waste, is only to an authorised person or to a person for authorised transport purpose.

You must ensure the proper and safe disposal of waste even after you have passed it on to another party such as a waste contractor, scrap merchant, recycler, local council or skip hire company. The Duty of Care has no time limit, and extends until the waste has either been disposed of or fully recovered.

Electrical Equipment (Safety Regulations) 1994

The safety of refurbished or second hand equipment is governed by these regulations.

Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

Employers are required to ensure that activities involving manual contact with hazardous materials are avoided where this is reasonably practical.

Summary of the WEEE and RoHS Directives

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive was agreed on 13 February 2003, along with the related Directive on Restrictions of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS).

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) aims to minimise the impacts of electrical and electronic equipment on the environment during their life times and when they become waste. It applies to a huge spectrum of products. It encourages and sets criteria for the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment. It makes producers responsible for financing most of these activities (producer responsibility). Private householders are to be able to return WEEE without charge.

The RoHS Directive will ban the placing on the EU market of new electrical and electronic equipment containing more than agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants from 1 July 2006. There are a number of exempted applications for these substances. RoHS takes its scope broadly from the WEEE Directive. Manufacturers will need to ensure that their products - and their components - comply in order to stay on the Single Market. If they do not, they will need to redesign products.

For easy to understand advice and information on all aspects of environmental legislation and policy take a look at: www.e4environment.co.uk