The WEEE Directive in a Nutshell

WEEE is not a misspelling of the Scottish term for “little”. It refers to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, a law dating from 1 July 2007.

The WEEE Directive affects makers, importers and sellers of electrical and electronic goods. It obliges these companies to help customers recycle e-waste.

What is E-Waste?

E-waste is a convenient term for 10 types of WEEE products. Among these are fridges, computers, drills, smoke alarms, coffee machines and lighting equipment.

Customers and WEEE

According to the WEEE Directive, you, the customer, don’t have to recycle e-waste. But you’re not supposed to ignore it, either.

What the law wants you to do is look for the wheelie bin symbol with a cross through it on any electrical or electronic item you intend to throw out. These symbols began to appear in August 2005. When you see one, you can ask a retailer to recycle the item when you buy a new equivalent.

Old CFL bulbs are e-waste. If you have a bulb handy, take a look at one now. You’ll see the crossed-out wheelie bin symbol on the base.

CFL bulbs contain mercury vapour. It’s unwise to dispose of them in landfill where the vapour will eventually leak into the ground. Instead, you should give the bulbs to a WEEE registered retailer when you replace them with LED light bulbs.

WEEE and SimplyLED

What does all this mean in relation to SimplyLED? The answer’s simple: SimplyLED is now WEEE registered. We gladly take your old CFL lighting and arrange for recycling when you buy your LED light bulbs from us. And we do this free of charge.

So there it is – yet another reason why you should choose SimplyLED.