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Is the WEEE directive in trouble?

The directive was introduced to little fanfare in the UK about this time last year. A large number of reprocessors jumped on the WEEE bandwaggon, hoping to make quick and "profitable" exercise out of the affair.

The directive was introduced to little fanfare in the UK about this time last year. A large number of reprocessors jumped on the WEEE bandwaggon, hoping to make quick and "profitable" exercise out of the affair. For many, it's been short lived.

WEEE reprocessors have attractedd large investments and a number of them are quite literally finding there's no WEEE to process. With infrastructure investments heading into seven figures, they're finding that there's no recouping their investments.

The biggest issue is the waste stream itself. In addition to a lack of waste comming from the consumer via local authorities and over to the processing plants, many have not been able to drum up the trade needed to support such huge investments.

There's plenty of WEEE out there- the fact of the matter is, the investment is top heavy- in the processing plants, with next to no investment in infrastructure for dealing with the small, numerous waste streams. A good analogy is a River, which starts in loads of trubitarys.

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