Plastics from waste electrical and electronic equipment should be recycled only in the UK where higher grade polymers can be produced for re-use for the European market.

Plastics from waste electrical and electronic equipment should be recycled in the UK where higher grade polymers can be produced for re-use in new products for the European market, rather than exported abroad, claims a leading plastics recycler. Axion Recycling's commercial director, Roger Morton asserts that UK companies can provide the sustainable and responsible alternative for re-processing this material, instead of it being shipped thousands of miles to China, only to end up in lower-grade applications. The environmental standards of these labour intensive dismantling and sorting operations have been brought into question by recent BBC news articles highlighting some of the worse cases.

His comments come as DTI consultation ends over the UK implementation of the WEEE Directive, due to come into force from July 1 next year.

The Manchester-based plastics recycler says its technically-advanced processes for producing high grade polymers from WEEE waste are a more sustainable and responsible alternative than exporting it to the Far East.

It is currently seeking more supplies from primary WEEE treatment plants to progress its pioneering recycling techniques on a commercial scale following recent successful trials with electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers.

'We are looking for potential suppliers to progress our work further on a production tonnage scale,' said Morton.

'The expertise, capability and facilities exist here in the UK to extract high grade polymers for recycling back into new products for home markets.

This is a far more sustainable and responsible alternative to exporting it.' Rather than rely on 'cheap labour', Axion uses efficient processing methods and novel separation technology to produce high quality polymer compounds.

Axion claims these are of higher quality than Far Eastern equivalents, and crucially meet the demanding specification for re-use in new goods for the European market.

Axion is currently testing plastics from primary WEEE processors at its state-of-the-art Salford recycling facility to assess the likely yield and commercial viability of producing high grade polymers from the plastic fraction of dismantled electrical equipment.

Benefiting from recent GBP 3 million investment, the new plant is one of the most advanced recycling facilities in Europe.

Fully operational from early next year, the facility converts co-mingled contaminated plastic waste into high quality polymer compounds.

Full output production capacity will be 14,000 tonnes per year.

Morton added: 'For electrical manufacturers, using high quality polymers recycled in the UK is important in terms of protecting the reputation of their brands.

Our on-going successful trials with manufacturers, such as Brother Industries, have proved that we can now meet exacting brand-leading material property specifications and produce a quality product which is virtually indistinguishable from a conventional, virgin-polymer component.' He said: 'Being UK-based, we can provide the necessary audits and assurances that the producer's responsibilities under UK legislation are being met, including environmental standards and Duty of Care for waste.' The forthcoming WEEE Directive will have a significant impact on the UK electrical and electronics industry as producers and importers face strict new compliance rules for collection, recycling and recovery of waste equipment.

The regulation aims to promote recycling, minimise waste and reduce disposal to landfill and incineration, as well as stimulate development of more environmentally-friendly products.