MPs accuse government of not tackling ‘e-waste tsunami’

Nearly four years after calling on the government to step up efforts to tackle rising levels of WEEE- waste electrical and electronic equipment- the chair of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has highlighted a lack of progress on tackling the “e-waste tsunami”.

In November 2020, the EAC called for more to be done on embedding a circular economy to use, re-use and recycle electronic products (see letsrecycle.com story). The EAC warned at the time that the UK is lagging behind other European nations.

Today, the chairman of the EAC, Phillip Dunne has published a letter sent to the environment secretary, Steve Barclay, expressing concerns over the government’s proposals set out in its WEEE regulations consultation.

This explains that the EAC is “encouraged” to see that online marketplaces are to be subject to producer responsibility requirements, thereby “levelling the playing field” with high street retailers. The committee also welcomes proposals for mandatory collection of e-waste.

However, the “relatively narrow focus” of the current consultation fails to address many of EAC’s 2020 recommendations.

The EAC added that implementation of proposals such as ensuring products sold on online marketplaces are compliant with the law, addressing planned obsolescence and making electrical items safe to repair for the consumer “are all missing from the government’s plans”.

‘Significant impact’

Environmental Audit Committee chairman, Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP, said: “When the Committee reported on e-waste in 2020, each UK household had 20 unused electronic items hoarded at home, and there were enough unused cables in UK households to go around the world five times. Despite these extraordinary statistics, it appears the Government is yet to grasp fully the scale of the e-waste tsunami.

“It is not just the amount of waste created in the sector through planned obsolescence or insufficient recycling schemes, but the significant environmental impact of creating the products in the first place. For example, when disposed of incorrectly, toxic chemicals can leak into the surrounding environment. The precious metals needed for our mobile phones, tablets or headphones are needed for Net Zero Britain and renewable energy infrastructure.

“As a Select Committee, we are encouraged when the Government looks carefully at the evidence we have collected and accepts our recommendations. However, four years on, we are yet to see many of these initiatives make it into policy or be reflected in its current consultation on e-waste. I look forward to receiving the Environment Secretary’s response to see how EAC’s recommendations can help mould this critically important piece of Government policy.”

Below you can see Phillip Dunne discussing the report back in 2020 with letsrecycle’s Joshua Doherty.

Letter

The letter explained that the committee is concerned to note that, whilst this consultation represents a small step in the right direction, the department’s delivery is “beset with delays”.

It used the example of the 2018 resourced and waste strategy, which committed the government to a consultation on producer responsibility for WEEE in 2020, “an initiative which is only now being delivered”.

“We therefore seek an assurance that the Department is sufficiently well resourced to make meaningful progress not only on the electronic waste strand of the strategy as represented in this consultation, but also in the other strands which are intended to deliver greater producer responsibility for waste and re-use and a more circular economy.”

The letter added that Mr Barclay has committed to appear before the committee later in the parliamentary session to discuss Defra’s policies on environmental protection.

WEEE Conference

WEEE collections will be front and centre of the WEEE Conference, taking place on 21 March.