Electronic Waste / E-Waste / WEEE Compliance

WEEE Requirements Explained

WEEE or e-waste legislation aims to protect the environment and human health by ensuring that waste from electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is properly managed. It includes requirements for the collection, storage, sorting, transport, treatment, preparation for reuse, recycling and disposal of WEEE.

These requirements typically apply to EEE including:

• Large household appliances
• Small household appliances
• Information Technology (IT) equipment
• Telecommunication equipment
• Lighting equipment
• Electrical and electronic tools
• Sports equipment
• Medical devices
• Monitoring and control instruments
• Automatic dispensers

It is based on the principle of “extended producer responsibility” in that the responsibility for the management of WEEE is placed on producers that place EEE on the market. This means that manufacturers and importers must finance the collection, treatment, recycling, and environmentally sound disposal of e-waste from their own products. Manufacturers must also design and produce EEE that facilitates the re-use, dismantling, and recovery of WEEE, its components, and materials. 

WEEE regulations provide for separate waste collection and the marking of products with specific product labeling such as the “crossed out wheelie symbol,” indicating that EEE must not be thrown into general household or municipal waste or disposed to landfill. Distributors or retailers may be required to take-back WEEE free of charge on a like-for-like basis which can entail setting up collection points to allow customers to take-back their products at their end-of-life.

To fulfill their financial, reporting, registration and other obligations producers may be required to either set up an individual waste scheme and submit a WEEE management plan, join a collective WEEE producer compliance scheme or participate in a product stewardship program, depending on the requirements in different countries and jurisdictions.

Our Coverage of Electronic Waste Regulations

Compliance & Risks’ coverage is historically comprehensive and global and includes,
but is not limited to: 

• EU: Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive 2012/19/EU (and  EU Member State implementations)
• Brazil: Mandatory Reverse Logistics System for Household Electrical and Electronic Products and their Components, Decree No. 10.240, 2020
• France: Anti-waste and Promotion of Circular Economy, Law 2020-105
• Ghana: Hazardous and Electronic Waste Control and Management, Law, 2016
• India: E-Waste (Management) Rules, G.S.R. 801(E), 2022
• Hungary: Rules for the Operation of the Extended Producer Responsibility System, Decree 80/2023
• Colombia: Collection and Management of WEEE, Resolution No. 851, 2022
• Kenya: Sustainable Waste Management (Extended Producer Responsibility) Regulations, October 2024

We cover standards for our core products that are available from our partner Accuris. These are available through our Product Compliance Solution.

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