Defra’s WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) consultation response, which was made public on Friday 18th May, has included plans to alter to current WEEE regulations. The changes will introduce a requirement that PCSs (producer compliance schemes) are part of a PBS (producer balancing system).
As part of the consultation, respondents were asked their opinions about whether there were supportive of making a PBS mandatory. More than three quarters of participants (76%) backed the suggestion, with 80% of producers supportive of the idea of making PBS membership a necessary requirement. Of the six local authorities who also answered the question, all backed the introduction of a mandatory PBS.
The government has commented on the consultation findings and subsequent amendment to the system stating: “We will amend the WEEE Regulations to introduce a mandatory requirement for PCSs to be part of a scheme whereby costs of collecting WEEE when requested by local authorities are shared amongst all PCSs. This is to ensure that Regulation 34 requests are fulfilled and collection services are provided to local authorities in circumstances where they have no collection contracts with PCSs.”
However, before the change is implemented, the proposed new system will go to consultation. Defra are currently preparing the documentation for this, with the hope that the new scheme will be supported and become mandatory in 2019.
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