Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what guidance his Department issues on the processing of consumer electronics in landfill after metals have been harvested from them.

Defra has not issued any guidance on the processing of consumer electronics in landfill or removal from landfill sites after metals have been harvested from them.

The 2013 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations seek to reduce the amount of WEEE going to landfill by encouraging its separate collection and subsequent treatment, re-use, recovery, recycling and environmentally sound disposal.

Defra has issued statutory guidance on the best available collection, treatment, recovery and recycling techniques (BATRRT) for WEEE at approved authorised treatment facilities. The BATRRT guidance sets out the minimum requirements which treatment facilities must comply with.

The guidance can be found here: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130403043343/http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/producer/electrical/documents/weee-batrrt-guidance.pdf.