WEEE is an acronym for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. The WEEE Regulations (S.I. 2006:3289) and the WEEE (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 3454) stem from an EU Directive of the same name and that Directive has now been rolled out across all EU countries. It came into full legal effect in the UK in July 2007. The Regulations seek to increase the reuse and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment by reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. For more information on the aims and requirements of the WEEE Regulations please go to: Documents and Downloads

The WEEE Regulations affect everybody in one way or another but the primary groups affected are:

1. Producers, who become responsible for financing the end-of-life treatment of their products
2. Distributors, who become responsible in some cases for taking-back end-of-life products when new products are purchased and for providing information to users about the need for recycling and facilities for the disposal of end-of-life products.

In the WEEE Regulations Producers are defined as the party that first sells Electrical or Electronic Equipment (EEE) onto the UK market, whether they are manufacturers of EEE, private brand distributors or importers (defined as ‘Producers’). Their primary responsibility is to finance the environmentally sound disposal of their products at end-of-life. To meet their legal obligations they have to join an approved Compliance Scheme (or set-up their own approved scheme). This requirement came in to effect on 1st July 2007 and a company trading as a producer from that date and who is not registered risks prosecution by the Environment Agency.

Gas Discharge Lamps (GDLs) are included within the scope of these Regulations (category 13) and are identified under the Hazardous Waste regulations as hazardous waste. Gas Discharge Lamps include fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)*, mercury, metal halide and sodium SON and SOX lamps. Most of these lamp types are used in both household and non-household applications. What are not included in the scope of WEEE are filament lamps such as standard light bulbs (known as GLS lamps) and Halogen lamps.

Recolight is focused on waste lamps, however, for waste luminaires** there is another specialist compliance scheme, Lumicom, for more information please visit www.lumicom.co.uk.

* Note: New energy saving CFL lamps are also classified as hazardous waste because of the small amount of mercury contained in each lamp. Under the WEEE Regulations they must be recycled instead of going to landfill.

** Note: (Luminaires is the term used to describe a complete lighting unit consisting of a lamp or lamps and also the parts which help to position, protect or connect the lamps).

The Environment Agency for England and Wales, SEPA for Scotland and the Environment & Heritage Service for Northern Ireland (the enforcement agencies) are responsible for ensuring that all eligible producers and suppliers register with a compliance scheme such as Recolight. The compliance scheme is then responsible for the producers’ obligations and for getting data from its members on EEE put onto the market and for reporting on WEEE collected and recycled.

Recolight is a WEEE compliance scheme which specialises in the collection and recycling of lamps. It is a not-for-profit company offering specialist recycling services, advice and support on behalf of its members and the wider lighting industry. Its scheme approval number issued by the Environment Agency is WEE/MP3838PR/SCH.

Recolight takes on the legal responsibility of its producer members to comply with the Regulations through a binding agreement. Recolight is a not-for-profit company and passes on, to its members, the costs and financing it incurs each year in carrying out the various tasks of its business plan on behalf of the members. For example the purchasing of logistics and recycling services, investment in marketing to raise awareness of the need to recycle and the Recolight brand, plus administration costs and ensuring a viable financial base for the compliance scheme.

Recolight is focused on waste lamps only, for waste luminaires* there is another specialist compliance scheme, Lumicom, for more information please visit www.lumicom.co.uk.

*Note: (Luminaires is the term used to describe a complete lighting unit consisting of a lamp or lamps and also the parts which help to position, protect or connect the lamps).

If you are a producer or importer of lamps responsible for putting new Lamps (EEE) on to the UK market for the first time you are obliged to join a WEEE compliance scheme or to provide your own Environment Agency approved alternative. Recolight would welcome your registration to our Scheme.

RecoNet is Recolight’s network of commercial collection points (CCPs). There are over 1,000 Recolight CCPs across the UK of which approximately one third are open sites. To find your nearest open CCP use our search portal.

Recolight will also make one-off collections from suitable sites for reasonable quantities of waste lamps. Please call 0845 601 7749 for more information.

In order to become a Recolight collection point there are criteria to be met relating to site access and licensing, site supervision, the use of appropriate containers, secure storage and reasonable volumes of WEEE lamps to be regularly made available for collection. If you meet these criteria you can choose to register as a collection point in the collection network and Recolight will provide containers and clear the WEEE lamps free-of-charge on regular basis.

If you would like to register to join Reconet, contact us by e-mail: dcfs@recolight.co.uk call us on 0845 601 7749 write us at: Recolight Ltd., Suite 265, Airport House, Purley Way, Croydon CR0 0XZ

Under the WEEE Regulations a lamp producer or importer or anyone who puts new lamps onto the UK market for the first time is responsible for ensuring the safe disposal of their product at end-of life. In order to do this, producers must join a compliance scheme, such as Recolight, which will manage this responsibility on their behalf.

If you are a newly-formed company operating as a manufacturer, own-brander or importer of lamps and selling lamps on to the UK market for the first time, you are obliged to join a WEEE compliance scheme or to establish your own scheme approved by the enforcement agencies, in order to comply with the WEEE Regulations. If you have failed to register since July 1st 2007 you are welcome to apply to join Recolight. However, if you have been in breach of the Regulations we cannot protect you from any action that the enforcement agencies may wish to pursue with you because you did not register earlier.

There is an annual administration charge of £150 plus VAT payable to Recolight by each member. In addition, the Environment Agency charges £220 each year for members with a turnover of less that £1m and £450 for those with a turnover of more than £1m. There is also a fee category for companies below the VAT limit i.e. £30.This is based on Companies Act turnover, not WEEE or lamps only turnover.

Once a producer has registered and joined Recolight they are invoiced monthly based on their sales of the previous month. This covers the costs and financing that Recolight incurs, on behalf of its members, for example for purchasing logistics and recycling services, investing in marketing to raise awareness of the need for recycling and the Recolight brand, plus the administration costs and ensuring the viable financial base of the compliance scheme. Its current cost recovery method is to calculate a flat charge per lamp type, which is applied equally to all members. The charges are reviewed and adjusted periodically by Recolight to reflect changes in its cost and financing base.

Apart from the initial process of registering on the Recolight Black Box secure website and returning signed copies of the Scheme Rules Agreement, the monthly data update will only take a few minutes each month via a dedicated secure website portal. Thereafter Recolight will take care of your legal obligations on your behalf and provide information on an as-required basis to support your business. All schemes must report data in a standard format to the enforcement agencies and we have designed our own formats in the same way as a matter of efficiency.

Within the WEEE Regulations there are clear and separate distributor and producer obligations set out. They are different to each other and the Regulations make it clear that distributors are responsible for the distributor obligations and the producers (via their Compliance Schemes) are responsible for the producer obligations. Distributor obligations primarily deal with responsibilities for offering take-back facilities to household users and providing information and communicating about take-back and recycling to the various parties in the supply chain.

For products sold on a non-household basis i.e. B2B, the distributor has no take-back obligation under the Regulations although may choose to offer take-back as part of an enhanced customer service package. To support this they are very welcome to register their site(s) as collection points in the Recolight collection network.

Distributors are also advised to verify that their suppliers are WEEE registered in the UK to avoid any risk that they, the Distributor, could unintentionally become a Producer under the WEEE Regulations. This can be done simply by asking for the suppliers WEEE registration number.

The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) sponsored the distributor take-back scheme (DTS), which is operated by Valpak. This enables distributors to discharge any household take-back obligations that they might have rather than provide in-store take-back facilities themselves. This mainly involves directing customers to the nearest local authority recycling centre, which have been upgraded using the membership funds of the DTS.

In order to become a Recolight collection point there are criteria to be met relating to site access and licensing, site supervision, the use of appropriate containers, secure storage and reasonable volumes of WEEE lamps to be regularly made available for collection. If you meet these criteria you can choose to register as a collection point in the collection network and Recolight will provide containers and clear the WEEE lamps free-of-charge on a regular basis. The best way to find out if you qualify is to use the ‘Register’ button on our website home page and go through the on-line questionnaire: on-line questionnaire

If you would like to register to join Reconet, contact us by e-mail: dcfs@recolight.co.uk or call us on 0845 601 7749 or write us at: Recolight Ltd., Suite 265, Airport House, Purley Way, Croydon CR0 0XZ

Recolight provides a number of services to help make the collection and recycling of lamps as easy and efficient as possible. For sites collecting in excess of 1,000 lamps per month we can provide a collection bin and regular collections free of charge. Recolight is increasingly providing on demand one-off collections of 1,000 or more lamps (200 in Northern Ireland) and can organise collections free of charge within the UK, subject to conditions, by calling the RecoLine on 0845 601 7749.

The Government has been promoting a greener environment for many years and it is in the best interests of everyone to recycle products at end of life. By recycling we can ensure a better future environment, with less waste going to landfill and the more efficient use of finite material resources. By demonstrating your commitment to recycling waste lamps you can improve your environmental credentials and make a significant contribution to reducing the impact of harmful waste on the environment.

Check if the lamp producer is a Recolight member, and if so you can recycle your lamps free of charge through Recolight’s compliance scheme. Use our mapping tool to find your nearest open collection point. Alternatively if you have a large quantity of lamps and would like to arrange for a one-off collection call the team on the RecoLine 0845 6017749 and we will find the best solution for you.

Householders can find more information on our advice for householders page

Recolight is focused on waste lamps only, for waste luminaires there is another specialist compliance scheme, Lumicom, for more information please visit www.lumicom.co.uk.

Note: (Luminaires is the term used to describe a complete lighting unit consisting of a lamp or lamps and also the parts which help to position, protect or connect the lamps).

Because it is the producers’ responsibility to ensure the collection and recycling of lamps at end of life, the costs are mainly covered by them. Therefore if you have sufficient quantities of lamps to be collected and recycled we can arrange that free of charge. If you have smaller quantities where it is not viable to collect directly Recolight provides a national network of collection points where you can arrange for the lamps to be delivered to.

Use our mapping tool to find your nearest open collection point, alternatively you can call the team on the RecoLine 0845 601 7749 and they will be able to advise you of your nearest open collection point.

Householders can find more information on our advice for householders page

The team at Recolight are always happy to provide advice and support to help you recycle your lamps as efficiently as possible. As well as providing collections from designated collection points we can also provide one-off on demand collections where quantities are sufficient. Call the team to find out how we can help you on 0845 601 7749

Although the accidental breakage of a lamp is very unlikely to cause any health problems, it's good practice to minimise any unnecessary exposure to mercury, as well as risk of cuts from glass fragments.

• Fetch cleaning materials as soon as possible, ventilating the room for a few minutes

• Preferably do not use a vacuum cleaner. Wear rubber gloves to protect yourself from cuts and sweep up the mess. Aim to avoid creating and inhaling airborne dust

• Sweep up all particles and glass fragments and place in a plastic bag. Wipe the area with a damp cloth, then add that to the bag and seal it

• Because Mercury is considered hazardous the bag should not be disposed of in the bin, but at your local civic amenity facility*

* Note: All local councils have an obligation to make arrangements for the disposal of CFL's and similar lamps at a civic amenity site or household waste recycling centre. You can find where they are on the Recolight website by using the 'Open Collections Search tool' above.