WEEE Directive

European Union WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC

The European Union WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC came into effect on January 27, 2003 and its objectives are to:

1. Prevent waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and to promote the reuse recycling and recovery of such wastes so as to reduce the disposal of waste.

2. Improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the life cycle of electrical and electronic equipment, e.g. producers, distributors and consumers and in particular those operators directly involved in the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Scope of The WEEE Directive
The WEEE Directive primarily targets the environmental management of Household e-waste and applies to all categories of electrical and electronic equipment.

There are two elements pertaining to commercial e-waste.
1. End-user. If a company is the end user of an e-product and is not replacing this product at its end-of-life then the company is obliged to manage the environmentally sound disposal of this product.
2. Self Compliance.

Irish Legislation
The Irish Government implemented the WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC from August 13th 2005, placing the obligation upon all producers and distributors of waste electronic and electrical equipment to (self) comply with the Directive, or to join a compliance scheme (WEEE Ireland & ERP) and have this done on their behalf.