Weee Services - Should You Bother?Saving our environment from harmful electronic wastes was becoming a major concern for governments across the world. Environmentalists were giving a grim picture of the amount of e-waste that was accumulating globally. 80 million PC's had become obsolete by 2002 and organizations were looking at means to dispose them off. All these factors led to the formulation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive or Weee which came into effect in 2003. In the United Kingdom the Weee regulations came into force through the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipments regulations 2006 and came into force on 2nd January 2007. Many companies were already in the business of e-waste recycling. With the implementation of the Weee they had to follow the directives and offer specific Weee services. Some of the directives of Weee regulations asked dealers for a free take back facility where consumers can come and deposit their obsolete electronic and electrical equipments. The Weee compliance services that are now offered by different companies include training, education and consultancy services, detailed evaluation of products which include BOM assessments, report generation of compliant and non-compliant components and recommendation of viable component alternatives. It is imperative for large, small and medium sized organizations to follow European Weee directives and Weee directives in any other country failing which there can be stringent regulatory actions against them. The responsibility of following Weee directives rests with the producers and retailers of electronics and electrical goods. The calculation of liability on the producer and the retailer has also been put in place. Weee has put in place different categories of products which need to be collected. The products fall under five categories and category A refers to large household appliances other than cooling appliances. Category B covers all cooling appliances, Category C has display equipments containing Cathode Ray Tubes, Category D covers gas discharge and Category E covers all other Weee products. As a producer and distributor of electronic and electrical goods you should educate your customers on the hazards of e-waste and effective methods of disposal of such goods. Companies which offer services related to Weee and waste management assist producers with product marketing, data collection and reporting. They also provide with ongoing information on the latest regulations and information on Weee. It is not a bad idea to have a Weee consultant attached to your firm. You will get valuable inputs which will help you to adhere to all rules and regulations as laid down by Weee. Bigger companies engage full time services of Weee experts to avoid missing out any important Weee function. Renowned companies which offer Weee compliance services help with testing the recyclable quotient in different materials used by producers. All these factors help big producers to follow guidelines right at the beginning of the manufacturing cycle. The environment is facing a great threat from all kinds of pollution. If the problem of e-waste is not nipped in the bud we would be facing a situation where our future generations may have to move around with masks as shown in a science fiction. Let us show our commitment to the environment by following Weee rules strictly. |