Approved Authorised Treatment Facility (AATF) A site which has the appropriate authorisations and approvals to carry out treatment of WEEE, as set out in WEEE Regulation 47. Approved Authorised Treatment Facilities are able to issue evidence of WEEE treatment and recovery. This evidence is required by Producer Compliance Schemes to show that they have met their obligations under the WEEE Regulations.

Approved Exporter An exporter who is approved under WEEE Regulation 47.

Collection & Recycling Service Organisation (CRSO) Another term used for a Producer Compliance Scheme (PCS), used across the EU.

Designated Collection Facilities (DCF) Any establishment or undertaking carrying out collection operations in respect of household WEEE and which is approved by the Secretary of State under Regulation 55.

Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) Equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Annex 1A of the EU WEEE Directive EC 2002/94 and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1000 Volts for alternating current and 1500 Volt for direct current.

Gas Discharge Lamps (GDL) Lamps that pass an electrical current through an atmosphere of mercury or sodium to produce light via an electrical discharge. Discharge lighting occurs naturally as lightning. The passage of electrical current through the atmosphere (mainly nitrogen), 'excites' the nitrogen atoms to give out a bluish-white light during that split second of the discharge. Examples of gas discharge lamps include: fluorescent tubes, compact fluorescent lamps, metal halide lamps, mercury blended lamps, high pressure sodium lamps, and low pressure sodium lamps. GDLs form category 13 in the WEEE regulations.

Historical WEEE  WEEE arising from products which were placed on the market before 13th August 2005.

Lighting Equipment/Luminaires Used as a means of spreading or controlling light as described in schedule 2, category 5 of the UK WEEE regulations.

Member A producer which has joined a Producer Compliance Scheme. This is the same as a Participant, where 'participant' represents the appropriate contractual language.

Participant a Producer which has signed up to join the a Compliance Scheme and thereby passes their obligations under the WEEE Regulations to producer Compliance Scheme in return for financial subscriptions being paid to the Scheme. This is the same as a scheme Member. A Producer is anyone who: manufactures and sells electrical and electronic equipment under his own brand, and/or resells (under his own brand) equipment produced by other suppliers, and/or imports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis into a Member State.

Place on market Producers of EEE must declare their put on market units to the environment agency. The term put on market is used to capture products that are given away, used as samples and also sold.

POPS Stands for persistent organic pollutants which are a group of organic chemical substances which, due to their specific physical and chemical properties, are able to persist in the environment for long periods of time. Once released into the environment they have the ability to bio-magnify and bio-accumulate in ecosystems and have significant negative environmental and human health impacts.

Producer Compliance Scheme (PCS) A legal arrangement to permit the passing of the Producer's Obligations incurred under the WEEE Regulations to a separate legal body - the Compliance Scheme. This body will then arrange the collection, recovery and recycling of WEEE streams on behalf of its registered Producers (see Participants) to meet their aggregated Environment Agency obligations as detailed within the WEEE Regulations.

Recovery a range of activities as defined (by 75/442/EEC, Annex IIB). It does not mean 'collection'.

Recycling processing used materials in order to create new materials or products

Reuse the utilisation of products or materials in their original form.

Separately collected waste WEEE defined in Regulation 55 and Schedule 9 paras 5 and 6, that should be collected and reported separately at a DCF, including Gas Discharge lamps.

Treatment The activities outlined in Annex II of the WEEE Directive and UK SI 3289:2006

WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) All related components, sub assemblies and consumables, which are part of the product at the time of discarding.