The recently formed AATF Forum is calling for a 3% increase in waste electrical and electronic equipment targets for 2018.
The Approved Authorised Treatment Facility (AATF) operators – including Wiser Recycling – who represent around 80% of the UK’s WEEE treatment capacity have criticised DEFRA’s proposals to reduce this year’s targets.
DEFRA has proposed a 14% reduction in 2018’s targets after the government department published figures earlier this month suggesting that the UK had failed to meet 2017 targets. DEFRA’s proposals included an 18% reduction in targets for large household appliances and a 14% reduction for lamps.
The AATF Forum believes that the lower than expected recycling rate for 2017 was due to differences in the way that WEEE is defined and recorded by regulators as well as the high volumes of unreported WEEE.
Russell Hirst, Managing Director, Wiser Recycling says: “The UK needs ambitious targets and a robust system that accounts for all WEEE placed on the market. We need to understand where missing WEEE is being disposed of and how we can capture this material and ensure that it is not damaging the environment, that it is being processed compliantly, and that it counts towards the targets”.