Council leaders have warned that television "mountains" could build up next year in the same way that the high profile fridge mountain crisis hit in 2002. A pay dispute between local authorities and retailers over how much funding will be provided for collection sites to take in waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) could see councils refusing to accept waste appliances from householders. This has been claimed by the Local Government Association (LGA), who have suggested that the £6,500 per site funding offer from electrical retailers is not enough to cover the costs of collecting WEEE at civic amenity sites. The LGA have estimated that the running costs for larger electrical points could run to £9 million per year.
From July 2007, new WEEE Regulations will require producers to collect waste electronics for recycling and retailers to fund collection points. The LGA said councils have been placed in an "impossible situation" and many may simply refuse to take part in the schemes, placing the success of the new legislation in jeopardy. Paul Bettison, chairman of the LGAs environment board, said, "It is totally unacceptable that the council taxpayer should be expected to shoulder the burden for new schemes that businesses should be paying for. Retailers are holding the whole process to ransom." Bettison did however state that councils are still supportive of their civic amenity sites being used as collection points, something which is essential as over a million tonnes of electrical items will need to be collected every year - including 5 million televisions, 2 million home computers and 8,000 tonnes of battery operated or electrical toys.
