WEEE non-compliance of LED lamps sold through Amazon raised in Parliamentary committee
At a hearing of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), Amazon’s worldwide Director of Environmental Affairs was challenged over the high level of non-compliant product sold through their site.
The committee is currently holding an enquiry into the operation of the UK’s WEEE system, and asked Amazon to submit a representative to answer their questions. During an online hearing yesterday (16 July) Caroline Lucas MP, a longstanding member of the EAC, challenged Amazon’s Robert ter Kuile over the non-compliance of LED lamps. She asked, “How do you ensure that overseas sellers using your platform are part of a producer compliance scheme for e-waste” and quoted figures from research undertaken by Recolight* that “out of the first 120 listings for LED light bulbs on amazon, 76% were non-compliant free-riders; which make no contribution to UK recycling costs”
Responding to the question, ter Kuile advised that compliance was the responsibility of the sellers. He also noted that some of the sellers on their site would have paid WEEE fees via a third party or were registered for WEEE under a different company name. He also claimed that Amazon “takes very seriously” any non-compliant products that are brought to their attention.
Commenting on the hearing, Recolight CEO Nigel Harvey said “It was particularly pleasing to hear Caroline Lucas challenging Amazon using the Recolight research. But the response from Amazon was very disappointing. Robert ter Kuile failed to admit that most products detected in the Recolight research were genuinely non-compliant, and that only a small minority had been compliant using the methods he indicated. His claim that Amazon takes non-compliance seriously will not convince the members of the Recolight scheme who regularly identify non-compliant product on their site.”
* Research into marketplace freeriding
- Recolight Survey of online retailer/fulfilment house
- Disturbing EU-wide scale of WEEE non-compliance through online marketplaces
– ENDS –
About Recolight
Recolight is the leading UK WEEE compliance scheme for the lighting industry, taking on responsibility for its members’ WEEE compliance, giving their customers access to the UK’s most comprehensive free lamp collection and recycling service, and helping to ensure that as many lamps as possible are kept out of landfill.
Recolight’s comprehensive offering makes it the preferred WEEE scheme for the lighting industry, setting the standard for the sector. It is the only WEEE compliance scheme in the UK to provide integrated Lamp and Luminaire collection and recycling. It has the biggest UK-wide network of collection points for all WEEE lighting. As a result, since its founding in 2007, Recolight has funded the recycling of over 333 million lamps, LEDs and luminaires, more than all other UK WEEE schemes put together.
