Recolight chief executive Eddie Taylor said the scheme had achieved a high awareness level for the Recolight brand and made good progress in setting up an effective network of collection points, currently around 800 nationally, which would continue to develop over the next year or so.
The meeting heard that the UK WEEE process was now "settling down"; there were still opportunities to improve processes and some issues relating to the Regulations that needed clarification, such as the format in which evidence that recycling has actually taken place must be reported, and these were all being progressed.
Taylor commented: "I think another important role for Recolight is representing members' concerns to government bodies such as Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on issues such as clarification and interpretation of the Regulations and related Guidance documents. We will also be lobbying for simpler, more proportionate approaches on issues such as consignment notes for small quantities of hazardous waste."
The meeting also agreed that the regulatory authorities and government needed to significantly increase the level of awareness with all relevant audiences about the legislation, its purpose and implications, and Recolight was encouraged to press this message with the Government.
Commercial manager Peter Lees reported that Recolight's online producer members system application was working well, and the Recolight website had also proved to be a useful resource.
Operations manager Alex Hawkins said Recolight had already established a good number of collection points across the UK, and Recoweb, a web-based system designed to allow collection points to request collection, was going live at the beginning of November.
Eddie Taylor concluded: "This members meeting, even though it was held only three months after WEEE went live, was invaluable in creating productive discussion on a range of issues and topics and will help us to improve and refine our activities."
(Jim Evans)
