WEEE Disposal

[Gongalong]

Hi folks,

 

When I first started here, a couple of years ago, we were looking to dispose of some electrical items and a colleague of mine went through all the issues relating to it and got a WEEE license from the Environment Agency (no great expense as £18 a year). Apparently we have to have this license before we can throw any electrical items away, and then we have to be sure it's going to be recycled rather than going to landfill.

 

Is the above definitely the case? I'm struggling to find any previous posts about this specific issue, or anything specific via Google.

 

TIA

[plexer]

I would have thought that licence would only be for transporting the equipment yourself to somewhere for disposal.

 

Using a licenced company such as PRM Green who don't charge schools they turn up collect the equipment and give you a waste transfer note and when the data destruction has been done you get certificates for that too.

 

Ben

[Gongalong]

We have taken some to the local WRC, so I'm not sure if the license was required for that?

 

The problem we have is that some of our equipment is broken, inevitably, and the usual recycling people aren't interested in that.

[laserblazer]

PRM Green has taken broken stuff from us, so long as there's a mix of usable equipment. They'll take old projector lamps as well.

[Jamman960]

I've used TechLogic in the past, they took everything including pc's that had been stripped by our year 8's... they weren't a pretty sight!

 

I'm not sure what you'd need a licence for, unless it allows you to accept WEEE? I once considered getting one so that we could accept other companies old computers but never actually got round to looking into it.

 

James

[Cache]

I had the same discussion with a company at one point, they said you did but others said you didn't.

 

In the end I passed it on to someone else simply saying have we got a WEEE number and do we need one. The conclusion they came to was unless you are recycling a large ammount of stuff (can't remember the exact weight) then you don't need one, otherwise legally you should be registered as a waste producer. Because the ammount I was recycling fell below the weight we didn't get one.

 

Recently though we've been using another company and they've never asked us for a licence number, so it's not cropped up again.

 

Edit: the ammount was 500kg http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/waste/32198.aspx

Edited May 28, 2013 by Cache

[Ben-BSH]

Call HOME PAGE Ecosystems IT Ltd Free Computer Recycling Services

 

They will take anything, everything, provide you with certificates, money if they can re-use computers and are just generally awesome in every way!

 

We use them all over the place, and they have been nothing but great.

[cullingsh]

The £18 per annum license is to register as a hazardous waste producer.

 

This is relevant if you produce over 250KG of hazardous waste in a year (note - not just IT related). This could be CRT screens, Projector bulbs, fluorescent lights., paint etc. Transportation of hazardous waste is another matter and one that it's just easier not to go into and shouldn't be relevant to you.

 

There are several companies around who will take your IT related WEEE away FOC. Those that pay for items are rarer, but then we haven't been that fussed by that aspect as anything that is in a usable condition is still in use.

 

We have used Recycled IT (Recycled IT | Free Computer Recycling | PC Disposal | Free IT disposal for all with ZERO LANDFILL) and the guys always turn up on time and are quite accommodating and provide the relevant paperwork. However they don't take TVs, fusers not in printers and a few other bits and pieces.

 

Our alternative company we use is Computer Recycling Technologies (Computer Recycling Technologies Ltd) who will take anything. The problem we had though was that they put everything in cages before going on the van, ad we had a lot of bulky stuff so we couldn't shift as much as we had hoped.

 

Shaun

[Gongalong]

Just revisiting this, I'm still not sure whether we need this license or not. Gov.UK's page is not at all clear. It says if you're storing or producing over 500kg per year then you need the license. So if, as a school, we get rid of 500kg+ of the relevant material does that mean we need the license? https://www.gov.uk/hazardous-waste-producer-registration

[Gongalong]

OK, I rang The Environment Agency and they confirmed we *do* need it. The 500kg applies to the entire item e.g. a fridge, TV, computer, rather than just the quantity of hazardous waste inside it. Hence it could be possible for large schools to hit that quantity for disposal within a year.

 

The company that collects the equipment for disposal is supposed to check that the organisation are registered.

 

I suppose if the equipment is recycled e.g. used elsewhere rather than disposed of, then that isn't considered as disposal.

[GREED]

Ah gone are the days of hiding them at the bottom of skips...

 

We used one a few years back, and they compared usable and broken equipment before deciding whether to charge or take away for free (which I think is actually very fair). Everything is reused or appropriately destroyed and recycled into other materials. Margins interestingly are very low. PC cases for example are taken to Wales to a massive industrial shredder and turned into beads for building insulation (apparently!)

[MartinSpry]

Great service and FREE http://ecosystems-group.co.uk/

[Boredguy]

We have a license due to the amount we get through as a site (since the light tubes are WEEE as well)

 

We had Stone Computers do a free collection at the start of the holiday and they took more than we had specified in the original discussion since we found a few more bits of kit kicking around. Everything from Base units to network switches went into the van without an issue and I got the paperwork for the WEEE transfer. In the next few days I'll get the certificated for data destruction on the hard drives. Very few PC's make it off our site in working order but none of the recycling companies we have used over the years have ever had an issue with them.

[Stone_Charli]

Hi @Gongalong, as @Boredguy said we'll come and collect any old hardware you've got for free, whether it's broken or not!

It's also imperative that any data-bearing hardware is disposed of responsibly to avoid a breach of data protection, which we're fully accredited to do.

 

Please feel free to drop me a PM if you'd like any more information.

 

Thanks,

 

Charli

[PeteB]

plus one for this service

[Arreks]

I dispose of my weee in the toilet.