The United Kingdom’s Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has set up a fund worth as much as £775,000 (US$1.2 million), made available by retailers, suppliers and manufacturers of electrical equipment, thanks to the Distributor Take-back Scheme and the WEEE Compliance Fee. Local councils are being urged to bid for support for new schemes to help increase the collection, re-use and recycling of unwanted electrical items.
Single project bids of up to £40,000 are sought from individual local authorities, with up to £100,000 available for consortia bids, the Department says.
“We have around £1 billion worth of electrical equipment in our homes which we no longer use but which still has real value,” says Business Minister Anna Soubry. “This business-led fund can help drive up levels of collection, reuse and recycling of unwanted electrical equipment. The fund will also help divert electrical waste from landfill and reduce waste by promoting the re-use of electrical appliances.”
All project proposals must be submitted to weee@bis.gsi.gov.uk by 30 October 2015 and endorsed by the appropriate waste disposal authority.
The Distributor Take-back Scheme (DTS) was approved by BIS as an alternative to in-store take-back for retailers and distance-sellers to discharge some of their obligations under the U.K. WEEE Regulations to ensure arrangements for customers to recycle waste electrical and electronic equipment. The DTS will contribute up to £400,000 to these WEEE improvement projects.
The WEEE Compliance Fee (WCF) was approved by BIS under the U.K. WEEE Regulations as a means for producer compliance schemes (PCSs) to discharge some of their obligations on behalf of producers of electrical equipment as an alternative to directly collecting WEEE. The WCF will contribute up to £375,000 to these WEEE improvement projects.
The schemes are approved by BIS but are independently administered.