Recycling Plan put back

6.39.01pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 22nd Apr 2005

Plans to require the collection and recycling of electrical and electronic waste in the South West have been put back.

Electrical waste is the fastest growing type of household refuse and volumes are set to double over the next ten years. The equipment mostly now gets sent to landfill sites but much of it contains highly toxic metals such as lead, mercury and cadmium that will eventually leach out into groundwater.

A Government decision to delay implementation of the new EU law on waste management have been sharply criticised by South West Euro-MP Graham Watson.

He said:

"Electrical waste recycling laws have been operating successfully in a number of EU countries for some years. Britain does not have to reinvent the wheel it just has to copy best environmental practice."

"Ministers say one thing when they agree new laws in Brussels but downgrade their environmental priorities when they get back to Whitehall. It's not a very convincing demonstration of the joined-up thinking we were promised from this Government."

"The one good thing that might come from this delay is that the Government could revise its approach. Manufacturers should be responsible for recycling the goods they make but should not have to pay towards the costs of dealing with others firms' products."

From August this year local councils were due to play a part in the collection of tonnes of discarded televisions, computer and mobile phones. The EU's Electrical and Electronic Waste Directive then requires manufacturers to take responsibility for ensuring that their products are recycled. But the Government has announced it is delaying the start of the law for a year to allow for further planning.

Major manufacturers such as Electrolux, strong supporters of the EU law, have been critical of the approach being taken by Ministers which they fear may impose burdens on them not required in other countries.

REIPC, the body representing 45 of the UK leading electrical goods producers, says that every household in the UK contains at least 30 or 40 products that will be subject to the new rules. Some 14 kg of electrical goods are discarded on average by every person in Britain annually but initially only a quarter of this amount must be separately collected.

Recycling companies set up by producers will collect the waste from local authorities and must ensure that at least 75% of the content of large household appliances is re-used or recycled, with a target of 65% for smaller items such as mobile phones and hi-fi equipment.