A WEEE step towards stopping illegal waste exports

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has developed PAS 141 accreditation to help prevent the illegal export of WEEE.

The scheme, which has Valpak as its first administrator, will ensure that reprocessing centres are independently assessed by United Kingdom Accreditation Service-endorsed certification bodies.

AT present, waste shipment guidelines developed by the European Union specify that exports of WEEE must be ‘tested’ to ensure they are for reuse. However, the nature of that test isn’t specified. PAS 141 now sets out what tests should be used by UK environmental agencies in order to check illegal exports.

According to Valpak: “[PAS 141] will help ensure the responsible handling of waste materials. Furthermore, we support the Defra view to keep the collection of all mixed plastics under review.”

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