The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has confirmed the chosen option for the mandatory waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) producer balancing system (PBS).
The PBS was created in 2016 to assist councils in clearing WEEE from their sites and ensure collection costs and evidence are distributed evenly across the 23 producer compliance schemes.
Clarity Environmental was one of the first compliance schemes to be involved in the PBS, which was set up as a voluntary arrangement between schemes. Although some had previously opted to not take part, legal changes brought in this year mean it is now a condition of scheme approval to be a part of a mandatory PBS.
Defra is required to set up a PBS system every three years, and following a consultation earlier in the year, it has now confirmed that the methodology put forward by the WEEE Scheme Forum will be used to administer the PBS for the next three years.
The WEEE Scheme Forum system largely replicates the voluntary PBS format, which has been overseen by consultancy firm Anthesis, with some enhancements based on the knowledge afforded it of the past three years. Under the new model, a compliance scheme receiving a collection request from a local authority can choose to either fulfil it or submit it to the PBS to be handled collectively. Other members of the PBS can bid for the work, or the cost of collection is shared across all members.
Clarity was pleased to support the PBS methodology proposed by the WEEE Scheme Forum, which is based largely on the “tried and tested” methodology that has been successfully followed since 2016. We believe the anonymous bidding system, alongside the proposed enhancements to the system, such as an online bidding platform to ease user’s participation, is the most effective way of maintaining the current level of service provided to councils, and equality for the members of the PBS.
The new mandatory system comes into effect immediately.
Clarity’s WEEE compliance scheme provides its members with low cost and simple compliance, alongside unrivalled member support. If you would like to discuss compliance with the WEEE regulations, get in touch with a member of our team at weee@clarityenv.eu or on 0845 129 7177.
