Recycle Electrical or Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

All Electronic and Electrical Equipment (EEE) placed onto the market from January 2, 2007 must be marked with this symbol to indicate that it is covered by the WEEE Directive, the provisions of which require that producers or manufacturers of EEE become liable to pay for take-back treatment and recycling of end of life equipment (WEEE):

What is the WEEE Directive?

The production of electrical and electronic equipment is one of the fastest growing domains of manufacturing in the western world, and with broad consumer take-up of products in this area, there is also a mounting issue of waste. In June 2000, the European Commission put forward proposals to address this issue, and in December 2002, these were passed as the EU Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) Directive. Such proposals were updated in the WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU.

For the UK, the WEEE Regulations were laid before Parliament on December 12, 2006. The main requirements and obligations on producers and distributors of Electronic and Electrical Equipment (EEE) came into effect from July 1, 2007.

The major provisions of the WEEE Directive are:

• All manufacturers (or anyone else selling a product on the market in the EU) are liable to pay for take-back, treatment and recycling of end-of-life equipment
• Improve re-use/recycling of WEEE
• Ensure the separate collection of WEEE
• Inform the public about their role in dealing with WEEE

What are Beko plc’s obligations according to the WEEE Directive?

As a distributor of EEE Beko plc, must facilitate the take-back of household WEEE from UK consumers and has decided to fulfil its obligations in this area by joining the Government approved "Distributor Take-Back scheme" (DTS) set up by Valpak.

By joining the Valpak scheme Beko plc is contributing to the establishment of a network of Designated Collection Facilities (DCF) where consumers may dispose of their WEEE free of charge for recycling and treatment in an ecologically sound manner.

In this way Beko plc can ensure that WEEE is disposed of by customers in a way that optimizes its re-use and recycling. The recycling and treatment of WEEE itself is part of the producer's obligation under the WEEE Directive. As a consequence of our membership of the Valpak scheme Beko plc will not accept returns of household WEEE itself and cannot accept WEEE returns for recycling, neither do we make arrangements for its collection.

How does Beko plc ensure safe disposal of my WEEE?

Beko plc has decided to join the Distributor Take-Back scheme (DTS) commissioned by the British Retail Consortium. This scheme is run by Valpak who are officially approved by the Government. As part of this scheme we ask that you take your old piece of equipment to a designated collection facility (DCF) run by Valpak in your area. An online search facility to help you identify a DCF near you is available on the following website:

www.recycle-more.co.uk