Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE): reuse and treatment

Apply to become an approved authorised treatment facility (AATF) and how to operate legally under the approval.

If you operate a WEEE authorised treatment facility (ATF) you can apply for additional approval to become an AATF.

AATFs can issue evidence notes for reuse and treatment on the UK WEEE they receive on behalf of producer compliance schemes. This WEEE is known as ‘obligated WEEE’.

See the detail in the WEEE evidence and national protocols guidance.

To apply for approval you must have an exemption, permit or licence to operate a WEEE ATF site and you must:

If you sort, disassemble, shred, or prepare for further recovery you are treating WEEE.

You must be the operator of the ATF and have the correct exemption, environmental permit or licence.

You apply to the environmental regulator of the UK country in which your facility is located.

You must apply for approval every year. If you want your approval to start on 1 January you need to apply by 30 September in the previous year. You can apply for approval at any time in the year but you must allow 12 weeks before you want the approval to start.

You need to download and complete application form WMP5.

With your application form you need to:

Your plan must include details of:

If you operate more than one ATF you must apply for approval for each site. You need to send a completed form with the correct fee for each application.

See the guidance on how to complete the template.

Your information is used to report the UK recovery and recycling rates to the European Commission to demonstrate that it meets the minimum percentages set out in the WEEE Directive.

For AATFs in England:

If you are approved as a small AATF and issue evidence for more than 400 tonnes of WEEE during a compliance year you must pay the balance of the higher charge (£2,900) to the relevant environmental regulator within 28 days.

For AATFs in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales refer to your environmental regulator for details.

Send your application form and fee to:

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 03708 506 506

Producer Responsibility Regulatory Services Environment AgencyQuadrant 299 Parkway AvenueParkway Business ParkSheffieldS9 4WF

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 01786 457700

Producer Compliance and Waste Shipment UnitScottish Environment Protection AgencyStrathallan HouseCastle Business ParkStirlingFK9 4TZ

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 028 9056 9338

Producer Responsibility UnitNorthern Ireland Environment AgencyKlondyke BuildingCromac AvenueGasworks Business ParkLower Ormeau RoadBelfastBT7 2JA

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 0300 065 3000

Producer Responsibility UnitNatural Resources WalesRivers HouseSt Mellons Business ParkSt MellonsCardiff CF3 0EY

Find out about call charges.

You must follow the duty of care requirements.

Some items of WEEE contain hazardous parts so you will also need to follow the hazardous waste regulations.

You must store and treat all separately collected WEEE using best available treatment, recovery and recycling techniques (BATRRT).

See ‘more information’ for additional advice on collecting and treating WEEE.

AATFs must work with PCSs and designated collection facilities (DCFs) to prioritise reuse of whole appliances and remove these products at the earliest opportunity from the WEEE treatment and recycling chain.

You must complete a quarterly return and submit it to the environmental regulator that granted your approval.

You must do this through the WEEE online system.

In each quarterly return you must state the:

If you have no data to report for a quarter you must still report this. You can submit a nil return by confirming that you have no data to report.

You must keep a copy of your data and any supporting information you used to make the return. For example, waste consignment and transfer notes, contract details, weighbridge tickets, photographs and invoices as added proof of your work. You must keep these for 4 years.

Your environmental regulator will check this information when doing compliance audits.

You must submit your data returns for:

You must issue evidence notes to a PCS via the Settlement Centre – a secure website that generates evidence notes.

See the WEEE evidence and national protocols guidance for details on how to:

You must apply to become an approved exporter (AE) or ensure you export via an AE if you want to:

See the guidance on how to apply to become an approved exporter.

Your environmental regulator may suspend or cancel your AATF status if you fail, or are likely to fail, to comply with any of the conditions in Part 2 (AATF), or Part 3 (AE) of Schedule 11 of the WEEE regulations or supply misleading information.

You’ll receive a notice which:

Your Settlement Centre account, PCS and public register entry will be updated to reflect your status.

A suspension or cancellation of your approval means you cannot issue evidence notes – only WEEE received during ‘approved’ status can have evidence issued against it.

Other sanctions for non-compliance are:

For more information on collecting and treating WEEE see:

Follow the BS EN 50574:2012 standard for collection, logistics and treatment requirements for end-of-life household appliances containing volatile fluorocarbons or volatile hydrocarbons. This standard is available to buy on the BSI website.

For the legislation see WEEE Regulations 2013, WEEE recast directive and Waste Shipments Regulation.

The WEEE directive requires the development of European WEEE treatment standards. CENELEC is currently working to develop these.

Approved authorised treatment facilities and approved exporters must now submit their quarterly returns through the WEEE online system.

We have updated with the new charges.

Added guidance on completing the recovery and recycling rate template.

Updated to include both Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and regulator guidance.

First published.