The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Fund (WEEE Fund) has announced its “WEEE Support Grants and Loans Package” to help support the electrical waste recycling sector as a result of the impact of the coronavirus. ​With many household waste recycling centres closed, or only open for general waste, and other waste electrical collections reduced, the flow of electricals for reuse and recycling has reduced significantly.

The ​“WEEE Support Grants and Loans Package”​ will help support the continuation of the UK WEEE recycling system as the sector deals with the impact of the coronavirus. The funding will provide £5 million of interest free loans to electrical waste treatment facilities and £0.6 million of grants to charity sector reuse organisations.

The WEEE Fund 2019 Compliance Fee Advisory Panel structured and allocated the fund , following extensive consultation and research amongst the electrical waste recycling sector. The research identified the economic impact that the coronavirus was having on the sector.

Scott Butler, Executive Director, WEEE Fund, said:​ “This is a fund that has been made available to provide rapid help and support to the electrical waste recycling sector as a result of the impact of the coronavirus. The loans will be 100% backed by the WEEE Fund -funded by producers of electricals. We’ve designed the application process to ensure speedy allocation of funding, and included a range of support for re-use and recycling organisations.”

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said: ​“Right across the waste sector, I’m hugely grateful to the enormous effort being put in to keep crucial services running; and in such unprecedented times I understand the pressure the industry is under. “This fund will help the sector to weather the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. Crucially it will also enable people to do the right thing and recycle more as we move towards a more circular economy.”
Louise Grantham, Chief Executive of REPIC and member of the WEEE Scheme Forum (WSF) group with direct involvement in devising the scheme, added: “This is a great example of the sector pulling together and working quickly to put a timely solution in place. It’s important that we have sufficient treatment capacity when restrictions have been lifted and we are able to collect WEEE once more. The sector has worked in partnership to ensure that treatment facilities are supported through these difficult times, whilst ensuring that producers’ money (through the compliance fee) is used effectively in a way which minimises risk and continues with the smooth running of the system.”                   

D​etails regarding the grants and loans:
●  Applications for the grant and loans are open now and can be accessed through emailing a request for the application form to ​info@weeefund.​uk. Applications are open until the end of May 2020.
●  Loan details: loans are available to all registered commercial AATF that have issued evidence of treatment in 2019. 50% of the loan will be made available now, paid in April and May 2020 with the remaining 50% available three months after the initial payment
●  Grant details: grants are available to all registered charity AATF’s.
●  A simple application process has been designed, broadly based on the Government’s Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) application system.
The 2019 Compliance Fee Advisory Panel includes the following representative organisations: Defra, AATF Forum, ICER, LARAC, NAWDO, WEEE Schemes Forum (WSF), Reuse Network, Joint Trade Associations (JTA),and the Environmental Services Association (ESA). The Panel drew on extensive research and consultation amongst the WEEE sector to design the funding scheme that provides support during these unprecedented times.