Micromech’s Policy for the WEEE Directive

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive 2012/19/EU aims to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment, by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount of WEEE going to landfill. It seeks to achieve this by making producers responsible for financing the collection, treatment, and recovery of waste electrical equipment, and by obliging distributors to allow consumers to return their waste equipment free of charge.

Micromech supplies and produces a variety of electrical, electromechanical and electronic sub-assemblies, assemblies and end-user equipment. Many of the components or assemblies supplied/produced by Micromech are integrated into end-user equipment by our customers or by someone further along the supply chain. Some products supplied by Micromech are classified as end-user equipment such as rack mount systems or compact enclosure systems or complete control systems and have been evaluated with respect to the ‘decision tree’ for the WEEE Directive shown below.

Micromech equipment is typically used in one of the following (though not exclusively if supplied as a component) types of installation:
as part of a fixed installation - this is defined by the European Commission Frequently Asked Questions document as ‘a combination of several items of equipment, systems, finished products and/or components assembled and/or erected by an assembler/installer at a given place to operate together in an expected environment to perform a specific task, but not intended to be placed onto the market as a single functional or commercial unit’.

Or, is installed by customers as part of a stationary industrial, development, research, scientific application – this is an exclusion within product category 6 - electrical and electronic tools. This is defined by the European Commission Frequently Asked Questions document as, ‘a machine or system, consisting of a combination of equipment, systems or products, each of which is designed to be used in industry only, permanently fixed and installed by professionals at a given place in an industrial machine or in an industrial building to perform a specific task’.

Based on these defined uses, Micromech is not covered by the WEEE Directive. However, to assist our customers, Micromech will accept the return of any Micromech equipment and process this using an approved recycling agent. Micromech may charge a fee for this service.

WEEE Decision Tree

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the UK has played a major part in the development and implementation of the WEEE Directive. The DTI web site includes a non-statutory guidance document for the WEEE Directive. The following decision tree is taken from the guidance notes and is helpful in assessing whether a product is covered by the WEEE Directive.