Is my business affected by WEEE compliance?

Producers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) need to comply with the UK Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) 2013 regulations. It can often be difficult to understand your WEEE compliance obligations and it can be a daunting process to get compliant.

At B2B Compliance, we make it easier for businesses like yours to understand the WEEE regulations and get a handle on your obligations – find out more below.

Find out if your business obligated

If you are the first company to carry out any of the following actions in the UK, then you are obligated as a Producer under the UK Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations:

Manufacturing electrical and electronic equipment (EEE)

Importing EEE

Re-branding EEE after another company has manufactured it

Selling EEE directly to end users in the UK if you’re based outside the UK*

* This could be through selling via an online platform, or by offering shipping to a UK customer

It is important to remember that there are no thresholds in the UK – as soon as you are placing EEE on the market, by either manufacturing, importing, re-branding, or selling from another country, you are obligated to comply with the UK WEEE regulations.

I am obligated, what next?

If any of the actions mentioned above apply to you, then your company will have a number responsibilities under the WEEE regulations, primarily to finance the recycling of electrical products when they come to end-of-life.

Some of your obligations will depend on how much EEE you are placing on the UK market. For example if you place less than 5 tonnes of finished products onto the UK market, you are deemed a small producer and have slightly reduced obligations.

As an obligated WEEE producer, here’s what you need to do:

Register with the authorities. Small producers are able to register directly, whilst large producers must register through a compliance scheme like B2B Compliance. A lot of small producers choose to use B2B Compliance too, for the peace of mind knowing that they will be guided through the process and support is at hand whenever needed.
Label your products with the crossed out wheelie bin symbol
Report data on the total weight of EEE that you have placed onto the UK market – this may be annually or quarterly, depending on your products. To do this, you need to correctly scope your individual products into the right reporting category, classify as household (B2C) or non-household (B2B) depending on it’s function, and consider any exclusions or exemptions for your products.
Finance WEEE recycling – how you do this is determined by whether your products are designed for domestic or commercial applications.
Communicate your Producer Registration Number (issued after your first registration) to your distributors
Be prepared to provide treatment information to recycling facilities (also known as Approved Authorised Treatment Facilities) should they request information on how to recycle your products
If you are selling domestic electrical items directly to end users, you may also have obligations as a distributor, including providing consumer information and taking back products at end-of-life

Any questions on how to meet your obligations? Find out more about how we can help you.

Is my business affected by WEEE compliance?

Find out if your business obligated

I am obligated, what next?

As an obligated WEEE producer, here’s what you need to do:

If the WEEE regulations apply to you, here’s how we can help:

Need advice? Contact us today