WEEE Case Study – University of Edinburgh

George Reid – Procurement

Fleur Rothwell – Energy & Sustainability Office

Our Objectives

• To make the purchasers and end users of equipment aware of the WEEE Directive and of our responsibilities and challenges

• To ensure that the suppliers who deliver to the University have registered with a scheme (e.g. Valpak) - only 30% done so to date

• To ensure that WEEE is disposed of at the lowest cost to the University whilst conforming to DoC / good practic

Categories of WEEE

• Large and small household appliances

• IT and telecoms, mobiles

• Consumer equipment• Lighting Equipment• Electrical and

Electronic Tools

• Toys, Leisure & sports

• Medical Devices• Monitoring and

Control equipment• Automatic Dispensers

Key dates

• 1 April 07 date by which Compliance Schemes register members with the relevant Environmental Agencies

• 1 July 07 Producer financial obligations start (start of compliance period)

• 31 December 07 end of the compliance period

Our Challenges

• Awareness of users/purchasers • No common inventory of items under £25k• Unauthorised / unregistered equipment• Unauthorised disposal methods (skip, charities)

• Disposal costs (who? / when?)• Quantity and variety of WEEE • Details of compliance schemes geographical

and space constraints

Current Situation

• Policy for disposal of IT equipment• Contracts in place:

– Annual for IT (and other non-refrig WEEE)– Approved supplier for refrigeration items– Annual contract for lamps– Route for mobile phones (with cartridges)

• Procurement initiatives• Guidance (via website, procurement /

waste networks)

Current Situation

• IT equipment– Annual spend of ~£10m on new IT equipment– 57.9 tonnes disposed of (05-06) at cost of £11,750– Increasing year on year

• Lamps – quote of 15p extra per new lamp since 1-Jul-07

• Refrigeration equipment– 4.6 tonnes disposed of (05-06) at cost of approx £2k

• Mobile phones• Other, e.g. light fittings (no route previously), etc

Procurement – Supplier Conditions

• Minimum quantities for “free uplift”

• One site uplift or “milk run”

• Inevitable involvement of resellers (e.g. extra £££) for collection of small items

• Storage & segregation requirements

• Other logistical / security considerations?

• Different situation for historic / current

Procurement – IT agreements

• Interregional Desktop Agreement (PC)

• National Notebook Agreement (NNA)

• National Apple Agreement

• National Printer Agreement (NPG)

• National Server Agreement

• National Photocopier (MFD)

Procurement – Standardisation

• Select PC (mini tender within IRDA)

• Select Laptop (mini-tender within NNA)

• Select Printer (mini-tender January 08)

• Add relevant clauses and questionnaires on WEEE and ROHS eg (data collection) manufacturer (product marking)

Initial “Quick Wins” for UoE

• Extend policy to include all WEEE • Keep contracts for historic WEEE• Add more WEEE guidance to various websites

to catch the users at the various stages e.g. purchase, specify, dispose

• Ensure all ITTs have specific clauses relating to WEEE, ROHS

• Revist T&C’s with all suppliers not using IRDA, NNA, Apple, NPG

• Use Waste Coordinators & Procurement groups more to distribute key info

Other Solutions

• Design posters / stickers for key notice boards, restrooms etc

• Create wiki website for information / document management

• Give supplier 1-5 rating on environmental impact e.g. IT 1, travel 5 to enable choice

• Join the dots between purchase-use-dispose, clear information flow

Other issues

• How will WEEE response by supplier be evaluated/scored?

• Should we use a common tool such as the Greenpeace Barometer?

• Should we deal with producers who are not part of a compliance scheme?

• What about resellers who charge for collection (e.g. small items)?

Useful websites

• http://weee.procureweb.ac.uk/useful_links.html

• http://www.eaucwasteguide.org.uk/

• http://www.valpak.co.uk

• http://www.cupid.ac.uk