Changes to the data reporting system for waste electrical equipment reprocessors that could increase the amount of material that counts towards WEEE recycling figures have been published by the UK's environment agencies.

The new guidance means that more WEEE is likely to count towards recycling targets

Currently, reprocessors are able to avoid having to segregate small mixed WEEE from council civic amenity sites before reprocessing by using a protocol. The protocol, which was issued in 2007 based on trial amounts of WEEE collected, allocates a set proportion of the small mixed WEEE to each of the WEEE categories, such as category one, large white goods, or category six, electrical goods.

Reprocessors can then issue recycling evidence to producer compliance schemes for every tonne of material that falls within each of those categories, which the schemes use to count towards their members' recycling obligations.

At the moment, 12% of that small mixed WEEE is considered ‘non WEEE', and as such not dealt with within the WEEE system.

However, under changes contained in a new document published by the UK's environment agencies, ‘GN04: WEEE Evidence and National WEEE Protocols Guidance', this will drop to 6.1% from January 1 2011. This is based on the latest tests into what WEEE comprises of.

At the same time, the guidance also allows the protocol to be applied for the first time to material other than that collected from designated collection facilities - which are predominantly council civic amenity sites.

Specifically, the protocol can now apply to up to 500 tonnes a year of material sourced from kerbside and bring bank collections of household WEEE, as well as that collected under the retailer take back scheme, and mixed business material.

By bringing more material into the system, the updated protocol could be particularly significant as the UK faces having to meet a percentage rather than weight-based collection goal for WEEE under the ongoing recast of the EU WEEE Directive.

A collection goal as high as 85% has been mooted in discussions on the recast (see letsrecycle.com story), which would require the UK to significantly increase the 36.6 household WEEE collection rate it achieved in 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).

The protocol could also increase efficiencies for producer compliance schemes by meaning a larger proportion of the material they have paid for the collection of actually comes within the WEEE system.

Batteries

Elsewhere, the guidance details how reprocessors should account for waste batteries in WEEE, in light of the 2009 introduction of regulations for producer responsibility for recycling the waste stream.

The document stresses that "batteries must now be reported separately and cannot be included in the weight of EEE or the weight of WEEE", and requires reprocessors, or AATFs, and exporters, to maintain an auditable records system to show they have deducted batteries.

But, it notes that they do not have to report the weight of batteries received in WEEE or split batteries into the categories listed in the Battery Regulations.

It also outlines a protocol that reprocessors can use to deduct the weight of batteries from small mixed WEEE if they are treating material in a "continuous bulk process", which is 0.06%.

The guidance has been jointly published by the Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Northern Ireland Environment Agency, and replaces the original ‘GN06' protocols guidance document.