Export license required...

[PJL]

Yes, our local tip now requires I have an export license to take equipment from them...apparently it's all to do with PAT testing!

So it's curtains for the Beovision LX2800 I saw there...

[Station X]

Can you quote chapter and verse? I can't see why you'd need an export licence unless you intended to export something outside the EU.

[PJL]

They would not pass on electrical goods without an export license and when I advised I was in the trade he said it was to do with PAT testing - seeing as he evidently hadn't got a clue, I will try again on a weekday when a manager might be around.

My suspicion is that it is only OK to sell goods that might contain banned materials if for export to non-EU countries. Of course now we have rohs I guess we will bury everything.

But then again I think the EU have a policy about burying hence why our town is about to be immersed in carcenogenic heavy metals from burning up waste. One thing I'm confident of though - someone out there is making money out of these so called green policies...Peter

[Sean Williams]

Sad news indeed, but lets not wander into the EU eh?

[Tim]

At least North cornwall is civilised in this respect. Whilst on holiday last year near Bude, a sign at the local council dump stated electrical items left there would be checked, repaired where necessary and sold or given to the local needy. Great huh!

[pmmunro]

If you want to quote regulations, try the part of the WEEE directive which recognises re-use as a legitimate method of reducing waste.

PMM.

[paulsherwin]

Many local authority recycling centres (especially privatised ones) have exclusive contracts with processors for particular categories of waste - computers, electronics, fridges etc. These processors often refurbish and sell the better stuff and become upset if other people are allowed to cherrypick the best stuff (as they see it).

This is an additional complicating factor to add to all the H&S and WEE issues.

Paul

[GMB]

Originally Posted by pmmunro

If you want to quote regulations, try the part of the WEEE directive which recognises re-use as a legitimate method of reducing waste.

Yes, but the snag is that unless you are a licensed waste carrier you can't touch the stuff.

I checked this out as part of our efforts to salute the WEEE flag. Apparently, if someone sends or you collect an old thing designated "for repair" or "for reuse" then there are no problems at all. But if it is said to be "for recycling" then the exact same thing becomes classified as fairly toxic waste and you are then not allowed to either collect it or stick it in the post.

So the instant someone dumps some WEEE at a tip it becomes waste with all that entails. The only simple legal way to take it away for reuse is to catch the owner in the act of dumping it and ask him to change his mind and give it to you instead.