Overview
WEEE governs what happens to electrical and electronic equipment once it is thrown away. It pushes the cost and the effort of collecting, recovering and recycling old equipment onto the producers who put it on the market, rather than onto the public purse.
Whoever sells the equipment is responsible for what becomes of it as waste. This is extended producer responsibility. Producers register, report what they place on the market, and fund the take-back and recycling of equivalent waste.
What it sets
WEEE puts numerical targets on the system and obligations on the people in it.
The wheelie-bin symbol
The crossed-out wheelie bin marks equipment that must not be dropped into normal household waste. It signals that the item should be handed to separate collection so it can be treated, and hazardous components removed, rather than landfilled or incinerated with mixed rubbish.
Where it sits
WEEE covers the same electrical and electronic equipment as RoHS. The two work as a pair. RoHS keeps hazardous substances out of equipment at the design stage, and WEEE handles that equipment responsibly at end of life. WEEE also operates within the wider framework of the Waste Framework Directive, which sets the general principles of EU waste law.
National laws transpose WEEE into each member state, for example the ElektroG in Germany.
Note: general educational information, not legal advice. Check the official source before relying on it.