Nine in ten UK small and medium-sized businesses are
still unaware of the European Union’s Weee Directive for
encouraging the safe disposal of IT waste, a survey
claimed.
Only 11% of UK firms are aware of the directive, which became
European Law in February, a survey by electronic recycling and
refurbishment firm MIREC Asset Management found.
Although Weee is designed to place the burden of responsibility
for disposal with the equipment producers, the finer points of the
legislation are still being hammered out. One important grey area
relates to who will be responsible for the disposal of historical
waste.
According to the survey, only 35% of UK businesses are disposing
of their old ICT equipment in a manner that complies with the
directive, the survey suggests, while a similar proportion of SMEs
admitted to dumping unwanted electronic and electrical
equipment.
On the positive side, the research identified a growing trend
among companies adopting resale and reuse policies, with one in
four (24%) businesses recycling equipment, compared with 15% in
last year’s survey.
Almost half (47%) said they resell their old equipment or pass
on for reuse.
The survey polled staff responsible for IT procurement in 100 UK
enterprises with up to 5,000 PCs.
Eva Milroy, marketing manager at MIREC, warned users that a
proposed amendment to article nine of the directive could put the
onus on the end user for meeting the costs of recycling or
refurbishing old kit if they do not buy replacements.
“If the amendment is passed it’ll have a serious impact on UK
businesses who try to dispose of old kit,” she said. “There are
lots of unanswered questions here.”
Milroy also cast doubt on the existence of an infrastructure in
the UK capable of handling recycling on the scale necessary to
support the directive.
What happens to the ICT equipment you
discard?
It is thrown out 16%
It goes to landfill 2.25%
Stored it for later 11.25%
Dumped total 29.5%
To staff, family and friends 22.25%
Charities/not-for profit organisations
13.75%
Sell/auction them to SMEs 4%
Returned to leasing company 6.5%
Resold/Reused Total 46.5%
Use a council collection scheme 5%
Use a disposal agent 19%
Recycled total 24%
Who do you feel should take the lead for implementation
of environmentally responsible ICT disposal laws?
Manufacturers 34%
Channel resellers 3%
Trade organisations 0%
User company 25%
Government 38%