WEEE  & EEE GLOSSARY

ATF – Authorised Treatment Facility. In order to treat WEEE, an ATF will need to put in place the necessary equipment and processes that allow the WEEE to be treated to the required standard and in a way that does not cause harm to the environment, workers or people living nearby. A site that is appropriately licensed to treat WEEE is known as an Authorised Treatment Facility (ATF) for WEEE.

AATF – Approved Authorised Treatment Facility means a site which has the appropriate authorisations and approvals to carry out treatment of WEEE, as set out in WEEE Regulation 60. Approved Authorised Treatment Facilities (AATFs) are able to issue evidence of WEEE treatment and recovery. This evidence is required by Producer Compliance Schemes to show that they have met their obligations under the WEEE Regulations.

Approved Exporter – an exporter who is approved under WEEE Regulation 60.

Commercial Collection Points (CCPs) refer to a location, (other than DCF’s), registered in the Recolight process, where significant quantities of WEEE are collected prior to transportation to an AATF. Sites may be classified as ‘open’ or ‘dedicated’, the latter having access restricted to the site owner’s business.

Collection & Recycling Service Organisation (CRSO) is another term used for a Producer Compliance Scheme and is used across the EU.

Designated Collection Facilities (DCFs) –  any establishment or undertaking carrying out collection operations in respect of household WEEE and which is approved by the Secretary of State under Regulation 70.

Distributor Takeback Scheme (DTS). A distributor of EEE has an obligation to accept household WEEE free of charge from a customer if they sell a like for like product. To fulfil this obligation, the distributor can join the DTS. The DTS provides funds to Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC), therefore members of the DTS can direct customers to their local HWRC.

Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) – equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Annex 1A of the EU WEEE Directive EC 2002/94 and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1000 Volts for alternating current and 1500 Volt for direct current.

Extended Producer Responsibility – EPR  is about making sure businesses that manufacture, import and sell these products are responsible for their end of life environmental impact. The regulations require businesses to:

  • minimise waste arising from these products and promote their re-use.
  • ensure the waste products are treated and meet recovery and recycling targets for the waste materials.
  • design products by reducing material use and enhancing reusability and recyclability.

Gas Discharge Lamps pass an electrical current through an atmosphere of mercury or sodium to produce light via an electrical discharge. Discharge lighting occurs naturally as lightning. The passage of electrical current through the atmosphere (mainly nitrogen), ‘excites’ the nitrogen atoms to give out a bluish-white light during that split second of the discharge.

Examples of gas discharge lamps include:

  • fluorescent tubes
  • compact fluorescent lamps
  • metal halide lamps
  • mercury blended lamps
  • high pressure sodium lamps
  • low pressure sodium lamps

GDLs form category 13 in the WEEE regulations.

Lighting Equipment/Luminaires: are used as a means of spreading or controlling light and are classified in category 5 of the UK WEEE regulations.

Historical WEEE – WEEE arising from products which were placed on the market before 13th August 2005.

Member – A producer which has joined the Recolight Scheme. This is the same as a Participant, where ‘participant’ represents the appropriate contractual language.

Obligated Waste – as outlined in the WEEE Regulations
Non-household waste is obligated to Recolight when a Recolight Member supplies new product which displaces old product on a like for like basis, and where the waste was originally supplied before 2005. There will be no crossed wheelie bin symbol on the product.

Non-household waste is also obligated to Recolight  when a Recolight member’s products which bear the crossed wheelie bin symbol reach end of life.

In both situations, the holder of the waste does not have the right for a free collection from business premises. However, Recolight has a duty to set up a system to receive the waste.

  • For lamps, this is the Recolight open network of waste lamp collection points.
  • For luminaires, Recolight has established a network of 80 waste luminaire collection points.

Recolight has a duty to finance the recycling of waste delivered into this system. Recolight also provide a collection service for the customers of our Producer Members,  which goes beyond the legal requirements of the WEEE Regulations.

Original Equipment Manufacturer ( OEM ) – An original equipment manufacturer traditionally is defined as a company whose goods are used as components in the products of another company, which then sells the finished item to users.

Operators – any Logistics companies or Recyclers (who may have a logistics operation) who will, under contract to Recolight, collect, transport, store, recycle and dispose of waste relating to their activities and in accordance with the relevant regulatory requirements.

Participant – a Producer which has signed up to join the Recolight Compliance Scheme and thereby passes their obligations under the WEEE Regulations to Recolight in return for financial subscriptions being paid to the Scheme. This is the same as a scheme Member.

Participation Agreement  – The Agreement which all Producers enter into in order to become a member/participant of the Recolight Compliance Scheme. The Agreement lays out the terms and conditions of participation including how the funds shall be raised to finance the collection and recycling of WEEE Lamps.

A Producer is anyone who:

  • manufactures and sells electrical and electronic equipment under his own brand
  • resells, under his own brand, equipment produced by other suppliers
  • imports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis into a Member State

Producer Compliance Scheme  (PCS) –  a legal arrangement to permit the passing of the Producer’s Obligations incurred under the WEEE Regulations to a separate legal body – the Compliance Scheme. This body will then arrange the collection, recovery and recycling of WEEE streams on behalf of its registered Producers (see Participants) to meet their aggregated Environment Agency obligations as detailed within the WEEE Regulations.

Put on market – Producers of EEE must declare their put on market units to the environment agency. The term put on market is used to capture products that are given away, used as samples and also sold.

Recovery – a range of activities as defined (by 75/442/EEC, Annex IIB). It does not mean ‘collection’.

Recycling – processing used materials in order to create new materials or products

Reuse – the utilisation of products or materials in their original form.

Separately collected waste – WEEE must be collected separate from other waste.

Treatment – the activities outlined in regulation 31 of the WEEE regulations

WEEE – Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment including all related components, sub-assemblies and consumables, which are part of the product at the time of discarding.

WEEE from private households – WEEE that comes from private households, together with that from commercial, industrial, institutional and other sources which, because of its nature and quantity, is similar to that from private households. Waste from EEE likely to be used by both private households and users other than private households shall in any event be considered to be WEEE from private households.

Please refer to The Waste and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013 for further information.

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