Company fined €20,000 for breach of waste directive

A DUBLIN-BASED company importing audio-visual equipment has become the first “producer” to be prosecuted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to comply with the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive.

The company, System Video Ltd, was ordered by the Dublin District Court to pay more than €20,000 in fines and costs for failing to declare the amount of electronic equipment it had placed on the market, failing to register as a producer of such equipment, and having electronic equipment for sale when it was not registered as a producer.

Since 2005 the EPA has been responsible for prosecuting both retailers and producers for not complying with the WEEE directive designed to prevent hazardous waste from ending up in landfill and to encourage the greatest possible recycling of electric and electronic equipment.

Under the directive, consumers pay 1 to 3 per cent extra on the cost of products, which pays for the recycling of the product at the end of its life. When buying a replacement item the consumer returns the old item which the retailer must accept for recycling regardless of whether the item was originally purchased at that shop. System Video is only the third company to be prosecuted by the EPA under the WEEE directive, and the first to be prosecuted in more than two years.

In January 2006, Boots was ordered to pay just over €8,000 for not notifying the public that its products included a WEEE charge. The following May Argos received a penalty of €11,500 for similar infringements.