Environmental Audit Committee publish response to e-waste report

The Environmental Audit Committee has published the full government response to their report looking into e-waste and the circular economy.  The government has highlighted the potential for online retailers to be obligated to collect e-waste, as well as physical retailers.

Since the 1st of January 2021, large electronic retailers have been obligated to accept waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in-store at no cost to the consumer, following the cessation of the Distributor Takeback Scheme. A move to include online retailers would make it easier for consumers to recycle old electronics and ensure the obligation for online retailers and physical retailers is equal.

Other areas of importance covered in the report include consulting on rolling out kerbside collections for e-waste around the country, and consumer awareness of what and how to recycle. With the Environment Bill being passed through parliament imminently there are additional provisions that could also help to identify the recycling and reparability of products – such as labelling.

There has been some criticism over the government’s rejection of a recommended reduction of VAT on repair services, as well as target changes proposed for recovery of critical raw materials. As with many of the measurements across the waste and resources sector, we rely on weight-based targets. These measures may lead to overlooking valuable materials that weigh less such as gold, tungsten, indium, lithium and cobalt.

Vikkie Fitzgerald, Head of WEEE at Clarity Environmental, commented:

“The government’s response highlighting that online retailers could also be obligated for collections of WEEE is highly encouraging in the move towards equal responsibility between physical and online sellers.

It is also important in terms of accessing the largest amount of redundant electronics to continue to strive to meet the UK’s WEEE recycling targets, as these have been missed repeatedly over the past few years. The sector has been largely impacted by covid-19 and lockdown measures, but trends have shown a huge growth in online sales, which of course include electronics and we should be looking at how, as a sector, we can access the valuable materials that may otherwise be missed by the consumer shift to online.”