Department for Business increases 2016 WEEE collection targets

The WEEE collection target has been increased by 16,000 tonnes for 2016

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has increased its 2016 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) collection targets following the release of collection data for 2015, which suggested that the initial target was not ambitious enough.

The initial WEEE collection target for 2016 set by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was 528,687 tonnes. The data for WEEE evidence published by compliance schemes originally suggested that 512,000 tonnes of WEEE had been collected in 2015.

 

The Department for Business set the initial target based on the annual average growth of WEEE collection since 2011. However, the figures from the Environmental Agency for complete tonnage of WEEE collected in 2015 show that some WEEE collections had not been accounted for in the original figure.

The new data shows that more than 521,000 tonnes of WEEE was collected by compliance schemes last year. Large household appliances and cooling appliances made up the largest percentage of WEEE collected in England and Wales in 2015, at more than 290,000 tonnes.

As a consequence of this, the Department for Business has increased 2016’s target to 544,341 tonnes. Compared to the initial 2016 target, the new figure for this year has increased by 16,000 tonnes, however, it is a long way off meeting the EU’s target of 730,000 tonnes.

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