Urgent action needed on WEEE
By Royal Society of Chemistry environment policy advisor Izzi Monk
We welcome the spotlight the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has shone on the lack of progress made by the UK Government when it comes to addressing waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
MPs from the EAC today wrote to the Secretary of State for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Rt. Hon. Steve Barclay, to urgently highlight this issue, echoing our policy position and previous evidence in the process.
Globally, WEEE is one of the fastest-growing waste streams, and, worryingly, the UK is currently the second largest contributor on a per capita basis. A diverse range of products are classed as WEEE at end-of-life, from smartphones and laptops to smoke alarms and vapes – essentially, most things with a plug or cable, or which require a battery to work are covered by the WEEE regulations in the UK.
These products are made from a range of materials, including plastics and metals, and some can be hazardous to human health and the environment if WEEE is incorrectly disposed of or improperly processed.
Some of the materials, such as lithium and indium, that WEEE contains are classed as 'critical minerals' in the UK. This means they are vital to our economy but also face significant supply chain risks.
We must recover these critical minerals to help prevent their leakage from our economy, particularly when they play such a crucial part in many of the green technologies required in the low-carbon energy transition. The Royal Society of Chemistry has long highlighted the essential nature of these elements through our Precious Elements campaign.
The Royal Society of Chemistry is calling on the UK Government to urgently put in place the enabling policies needed to move to a circular economy – rather than throwing potentially useful materials away, they are kept circulating at their highest value for as long as possible.
The UK Government has recently been consulting on reforms to the WEEE system and also issued a call for evidence, both of which the RSC responded to.
We welcomed the intention behind a number of proposals within the consultations, however, there is a clear need for a coherent suite of interventions that address the complex challenges presented by WEEE if we are to enable a circular economy of the materials it contains.
Some of the recommendations we made in our responses are:
- Investment in recycling and repair infrastructure
- Changes in product design (which may require incentives or more regulation)
- Research and innovation in recycling methods.
At present, the WEEE system is not well set up to do this. Previous research that our Royal Society of Chemistry team conducted with IPSOS Mori found that 51% of UK households had at least one unused electronic device sitting in drawers and cupboards.
Just over half of respondents said they worry about the environmental effect of the unused tech devices they have at home, but either don’t know what to do with them or are unconvinced that the current processes available in their local area deal with WEEE effectively.
Within a circular economy repair, re-use, re-manufacturing, and recycling are all vital as each has a role to play in slowing material flows and minimising waste and consumption.
Overall, our governments need to take ambitious strides to progress towards a circular economy that protects the value of critical minerals, human health and our environment.
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