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TECHNOLOGY / LED LEDS AND THE
WEEE DIRECTIVE - A EUROPEAN PATCHWORK
The WEEE Directive is intended to ensure recycling of Gas Discharge Lamps across the European Union, but with the introduction of new lighting technologies such as LEDs rapidly becoming commonplace in business and domestic settings, what happens when they reach end of life? Nigel Harvey, Chief Executive of the UK’s specialist lighting compliance scheme Recolight, explains
The WEEE Directive was established in the EU to ensure waste electrical and electronic equipment is properly disposed of when it reaches end of life. In the lighting industry, all gas discharge lamps are stated as being in-scope. This includes compact fluorescent lamps, fluorescent tubes, metal halide lamps, mercury and blended lamps, high- and low-pressure sodium lamps, and others. Filament lamps are specifically exempted from the need to comply. However, unlike gas discharge lamps, LEDs and OLEDs were not specifically named in the WEEE Directive. This has led to a dispar- ity across the EU, with different Member States taking different views on whether or not they are regarded as within the scope of the Directive.
Whereas GDLs are hazardous waste because of the chemicals they contain, LEDs are sometimes regarded as in-scope of the Directive by some Member States because they are electronic products, and some- times as out of scope by other Member States, because they are not gas discharge lamps.
The WEEE Directive is currently undergo- ing a review and LEDs will be specifically named as in-scope of the recast Directive which is due to be finalised during 2011. Of the 27 EU member states, six are known to class LEDs as in-scope of the WEEE Direc- tive, and as such require Producers of LEDs and OLEDs to comply with the regulations. Those six are Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Spain and the UK. In the UK, the Environment Agency enforces the WEEE regulations and classed LEDs and OLEDs as in scope in March 2009.
This means that any producer or importer of LEDs or OLEDs who puts the lamps on the UK market for the first time should register with a compliance scheme, such as Reco-
Country Austria
Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France
Germany Hungary Italy
Latvia
Netherlands Poland
Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain
United Kingdom
light. A further twelve countries are known to have stated that LEDs and OLEDs are out of scope of their national WEEE regulations. These are Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The situation in the other nine Member States is not yet known. Producers that have not yet joined a scheme in a member state which regards LEDs as in scope risk enforcement action – in the United Kingdom the Environment Agency recently brought a case against a company which was then fined £30,000 for failure to comply with the WEEE and pack- ing regulations. Recolight has been working in the UK to raise awareness amongst LED manufacturers and importers of the need to join a compli- ance scheme. For many companies that only import a small quantity of lamps complying with the WEEE regulations may seem like an
LEDs regarded as in scope for national WEEE regulations?
No No
Yes No
Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
Yes Yes
unnecessary burden. However, good compli- ance schemes in each European country can work with companies to ensure this isn’t the case by making compliance as simple as possible.
For more information about lamp recycling in the UK visit
www.recolight.co.uk. For further details on the European WEEE Directive visit:
ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/
Recolight is a not-for-profit Producer Com- pliance Scheme established by the UK light- ing industry to help its members comply with the UK’s WEEE regulations. With over 70 lamp producer members, and with GE Lighting, Havells Sylvania, Osram and Philips Lighting on the company’s board, Recolight represents the overwhelming proportion of lamps placed on the UK market.
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