The UK government has announced plans to ensure that online marketplaces ‘pay their fair share’ in covering the cost of recycling electrical waste.
According to the UK’s circular economy minister, Mary Creagh, the measure will help level the playing field for UK businesses, who already pay to cover the cost of recycling.
‘Ensuring fairness’
“Electrical equipment like vapes are being sold in the UK by producers who are failing to pay their fair share when recycling and […] dealing with old or broken items,” she commented.
“Today we’re ending this: creating a level playing field for all producers of electronics, to ensure fairness and fund the cost of the treatment of waste electricals.”
The new regulations will require online marketplaces to register with the Environment Agency and report sales data on items sold by overseas vendors.
This data, in turn, will be used to calculate said marketplaces’ financial contributions to the recycling system.
Some 100,000 tonnes of small household electrical items, such as kettles and lamps. are binned in the UK every year.
The measure forms part of the UK government’s Plan for Change strategy, which will see increased investment in recycling and circular economy services, including the introduction of a deposit return scheme for drink containers and extended producer responsibility for packaging.
Swarming the market
“We welcome the Government’s vital new reforms to the waste electrical regulations,” commented Scott Butler, executive director at Material Focus, who added that so-called ‘FastTech’ items, such as vapes, have “swarmed” the UK market.
“These small, cheap and too easily thrown away items contain valuable materials such as copper, gold, and lithium, which are lost forever and could instead power our tech future,” he said.
“These changes to regulations will mean that online marketplaces, many of which are selling FastTech and other electricals, must take on their producer responsibilities and contribute their share of the costs of recycling them. Creating a separate category for vapes also means that those who have been profiting from the boom in their sales can be held responsible for providing public takeback, communications and most importantly pay for recycling them.” Read more here.
