GovWire

You must classify any waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) that leaves your premises. In your waste transfer note or consignment note you must:

• give the WEEE a List of Waste (LoW) code
• describe it

It is the chemical makeup of waste that determines the LoW code and if hazardous waste controls or persistent organic pollutant (POP) controls apply to the waste. WEEE can be:

• hazardous waste if it contains hazardous chemicals above certain concentration limits
• POP waste if the chemicals are POPs and above certain concentration limits

Read the guidance Classify different types of waste to find LoW codes for WEEE types known to include:

• hazardous chemicals
• POPs

If your WEEE type is not listed in this guidance you will need to assess the items yourself.

Assessing items of WEEE

These are examples of the types of WEEE you may need to assess yourself:

• office equipment non-household type such as photocopiers and printers
• medical devices category 8
• monitoring and control instruments category 9
• automatic dispensers category 10

Components such as printed circuit boards, cables and plastic parts can contain hazardous chemicals and POPs.

To assess the WEEE you must first identify if hazardous chemicals and POPs are present and then the quantity present.

To do this you compare the concentration of the chemical in the whole item with the legal concentration limit(s) that apply. You can find information on concentration limits and advice on how to do an assessment in the guidance:

• Waste classification technical guidance
• Check if your material is waste

If you are assessing more than 1 item of WEEE, follow the advice on waste sampling in Appendix D Waste classification technical guidance. However, do not compare the chemical concentration in the component (as stated in Appendix D) to the limit, compare the amount in the whole item. The Environment Agency will update the technical guidance in the future.

You must keep a copy of your assessment and it must be available to the Environment Agency on request.

If you cannot do this assessment or get the information you need, you should classify the WEEE as hazardous and POPs waste as a precaution.

Wastes from treating WEEE and WEEE components

You must identify if any item of WEEE is POPs waste before you treat it. See the guidance on classifying electronic and electrical equipment for advice on how to do this.

When POPs affect the outputs from WEEE treatment

Where an item of WEEE is POPs waste, you must destroy the POPs. If you treat an item of WEEE that is POPs waste, the material containing the POPs ends up in the treatment output. This means these outputs are classed as POPs waste, and they must be destroyed. This applies even if the treatment has diluted the level of POPs to below the concentration limit.

If you know the WEEE item is not POPs waste, it may still contain low levels of POPs. Therefore separating materials during a treatment activity may result in increased concentrations of POPs in outputs that contain plastics, cable or printed circuit boards. These are POPs waste if the level of POPs is above the concentration limit. You must assess the concentration of POPs in these wastes, or manage it as POPs waste.

If you treat an item of WEEE that has not been assessed or identified as POPs waste, you should manage the device and treatment outputs as POPs waste as a precaution.

If you have assessed your waste and are still not sure if a WEEE item is POPs waste, you should manage it as POPs waste.

Here is some advice on how to classify some:

• components removed from WEEE before or after treatment
• plastic containing wastes produced by the WEEE treatment

The Environment Agency has not provided advice on all waste streams from WEEE treatment.

Printed circuit boards

The Environment Agency expects printed circuit boards to contain levels of POPs, hazardous brominated flame retardants and antimony trioxide above concentration limits. Nickel may also be present.

This advice also applies to printed circuit boards removed or separated during waste treatment. Use this code to classify the waste.

(*) An asterisk at the end of a code means the waste is hazardous.

Cables and granulated cable plastics

The Environment Agency expects internal and external cables and wiring to contain levels of POPs, hazardous brominated flame retardants, antimony trioxide, plasticisers, and other chemicals above concentration limits.

This advice also applies to cables or wiring removed from devices or separated during waste treatment.

Use these 2 codes together to classify waste cables.

Use this code to classify waste granulated cable plastics, from which copper and other non-plastic materials have been removed.

View the original news story