New WEEE, RoHS guidance available.London -- The U.K. government has made available a series of publications on the WEEE WEEE Waste from Electric and Electronic Equipment (directive) WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment and RoHS Directives, including best practice case studies. The guidance is available for free at envirowise.gov.uk/electronics. Among the suggestions: * Talk to, or join, a recycling industry consortium. * Talk to a recycler about the requirements and costs of recycling your own product, with a view to re-design. * Find out what happens at the end-of-life for your product. * Establish a dialogue with distributors and retailers to establish if your own take-back scheme is possible, or what the best options are for your business. * Look at current contracts, both for equipment used and sold, to identify any possible transfer of responsibility. * Evaluate customer opinions about who is responsible for WEEE and see if it is possible to negotiate. * Evaluate B2B (Business to Business) Refers to one business communicating with or selling to another. See B2B e-commerce, B2C and B2G. B2B - business to business takeback obligations if selling equipment to businesses that are likely to have old stock which will need to be collected and recycled. * Re-evaluate your business model. * Identify any market opportunities, such as recycling, logistics. * Consider a move from a selling to a renting business model. * Evaluate design and re-design opportunities. For additional information: * U.K.'s Department of Trade and Industry The Department of Trade and Industry was a United Kingdom government department which was disbanded with the announcement of the creation of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on 28 June 2007[1]. (DTI Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) A refinement of magnetic resonance imaging that allows the doctor to measure the flow of water and track the pathways of white matter in the brain. ), RoHS guidelines: dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/ * KPMG KPMG Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (accounting firm) KPMG Kaiser Permanente Medical Group KPMG Keiner Prüft Mehr Genau (German) KPMG Kommen Prüfen Meckern Gehen report on WEEE: dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/kpmgreport.pdf * DTI commissioned assessment on WEEE strategies in other countries: dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/aeatreport.pdf * DTI RoHS compliance reports: ROHS Compliance Executive Summary.pdf: dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/; ROHS Compliance Full Report.pdf: dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/ * Centre for Sustainable Design: cfsd.org.uk * Sustainable Design Network: sustainabledesignnet.org.uk * EC's Integrated Product Policy: europa.eu.int/comm/environment/ipp/home.htm * United Nations UNIDO UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization training kit on Cleaner Production Cleaner production is a preventive, company-specific environmental protection initiative. It is intendend to minimize waste and emissions and maximize product output.[1] : unido.org/doc/9753 * Lifecycle analysis tools: pre.nl * Waste Resource and Action Programme: wrap.org.uk * Intellect: intellectuk.org/campaigns/environment/default.asp * Unep sustainable consumption: uneptie.org/pc/sustain * Environment Agency life cycle analysis tool: environment-agency.gov.uk * Sustainable Business A business is sustainable if it has adapted its practices for the use of renewable resources and holds itself accountable for the environmental and human rights impacts of its activities. : sustainablebusiness.com * Design Council: design-council.org.uk. Edited by Mike Buetow |
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