Against the backdrop of growing concerns regarding the environment, from global warming to the need to minimise and recycle waste, there is a major development on the horizon that will have a direct impact on the electronic sectors of the security industry. This is the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive (WEEE) scheduled to be implemented in the UK this July (2007).
It is estimated that the UK alone produces around 1.8 million tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment annually, the majority of which ends up in landfill. Moving forward the WEEE directive aims to transform this situation by ensuring that instead the majority of this waste is recycled.
A key point to note here is that WEEE directive makes a clear distinction between domestic and business consumers. Domestic consumers because the 'producer' of the equipment has already paid a fee to the government to fund the running of civic amenity sites can take any WEEE products to these sites free of charge. However, for business consumers when a new electronic security system is fitted and an old system is removed, the installer of the new system may be required to dispose of the old components. In order to cover the costs of recovery or disposal the legislation permits the installer to add an environmental charge to their quote for an installation. The result of this is that businesses should now expect to see an environmental charge on their invoice for a new electronic security system.
Ultimately, I believe that the new legislation has to be welcomed as it represents a positive transformation in the way that the private security industry deals with its waste electrical and electronic equipment and, crucially, helps us to play our part in the long-term protection of the environment.
