WEEE Waste: What Is WEEE and the 15 UK Categories

WEEE waste is waste electrical and electronic equipment: anything that needed a plug, cable or battery to work and has now been discarded or is about to be. In the UK it is controlled by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2013, which split equipment into 15 categories, make producers pay for collection and treatment, and require businesses to keep it out of general waste and send it to an approved authorised treatment facility (AATF).

This guide explains what counts as WEEE, the current category list (including the vapes category added in 2025), what makes some WEEE hazardous, and what a business actually has to do when it has electrical waste to get rid of.

What is WEEE?

WEEE stands for waste electrical and electronic equipment. Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is any product that depends on electric current or electromagnetic fields to work properly. Once the owner discards it, intends to discard it or is required to discard it, it becomes WEEE and the waste rules apply.

That covers far more than computers and televisions. Kettles, desk fans, vending machines, emergency lighting, power tools, EV chargers, smoke alarms, solar panels, LED tape and disposable vapes are all WEEE at end of life. A useful working test is simple: if it has a plug, a cable or a battery and you no longer want it, treat it as WEEE until you have confirmed otherwise.

What WEEE recycling means

WEEE recycling is the separate collection and treatment of electrical waste so that hazardous parts are removed safely and the remaining materials (metals, plastics, glass and circuit boards) are separated and returned to manufacturing. Treatment has to happen at a facility with the right environmental permit, and household WEEE counted towards producer targets must be treated at an AATF.

What is not covered

According to GOV.UK scope guidance, exclusions include military products, equipment built into another product that only works within it (such as a car sat nav), large-scale stationary industrial tools and fixed installations, most transport, professional off-road machinery, implantable medical devices and medical devices that are infective at end of life. Filament bulbs are excluded, but LED filament bulbs are in scope.

The 15 WEEE categories

Many guides still say there are 14 UK WEEE categories. That was correct until 2025. The WEEE (Amendment) Regulations 2025 created a separate category for vapes and electronic cigarettes, and GOV.UK guidance now lists 15 categories used for producer registration, reporting and evidence. In the text of the regulations the new category appears as 7.1, sitting under toys, leisure and sports equipment, but it is reported separately.

1. Large household appliances - washing machines, cookers, dishwashers, electric radiators.
2. Small household appliances - kettles, toasters, vacuum cleaners, hairdryers.
3. IT and telecommunications equipment - laptops, desktops, servers, printers, phones, USB drives.
4. Consumer equipment - audio equipment, cameras, musical instruments.
5. Lighting equipment - luminaires and fittings (lamps themselves are category 13).
6. Electrical and electronic tools - drills, saws, sewing machines (except large-scale stationary industrial tools).
7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment - games consoles, electric toys, gym equipment.
8. Medical devices - except implanted and infected products.
9. Monitoring and control instruments - smoke detectors, thermostats, smart EV charge points.
10. Automatic dispensers - vending machines, cash machines, hot drinks machines.
11. Display equipment - TVs, monitors, advertising and information screens.
12. Appliances containing refrigerants - fridges, freezers, chillers, air conditioning units, heat pump tumble dryers.
13. Gas discharge lamps and LED light sources - fluorescent tubes, CFLs, LED lamps and LED tape.
14. Photovoltaic panels - all solar PV panels.
15. Vapes and electronic cigarettes - including parts intended to form part of a vape and heated tobacco products.

All categories cover both household (B2C) and non-household (B2B) equipment, even where the category title says "household". For vapes specifically, see our guide to disposing of vapes after the single-use vape ban.

Business WEEE vs household WEEE

The difference matters because it decides who pays and who is responsible.

• Household WEEE comes from private households, or is the same type and quantity of equipment that a household would use. Producers fund its collection through producer compliance schemes, and householders can use council sites and retailer take-back.
• Non-household (business) WEEE is equipment designed and sold for professional use, such as commercial catering kit, servers, industrial lighting or medical equipment.
• Dual use equipment, which could be used in a home or a business (a laptop or a desk lamp, for example), is classed as household EEE for producer reporting.

Waste from your premises is still business waste in law, whichever category it falls into. You cannot put it in a household recycling collection or take a van load to a household waste recycling centre unless the council runs a paid trade service.

Hazardous WEEE: examples and waste codes

Much electrical waste contains substances that make it hazardous waste, or persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that limit how it can be recycled. GOV.UK classification guidance lists printed circuit boards, plastic casings and cables, insulation foam, cooling agents, flame retardants, screen phosphors, cathode ray tubes, capacitors and nickel-cadmium batteries as common sources.

Waste from businesses uses codes from chapter 16 02 of the List of Waste. Household-type waste collected separately uses chapter 20 01. An asterisk means hazardous. Common commercial examples:

• 16 02 11* - fridges, freezers, chillers and air conditioning containing ozone-depleting substances in the foam or coolant.
• 16 02 13* - other discarded equipment with hazardous components, including other cooling appliances, fluorescent tubes and CFLs, heat pump tumble dryers and display equipment containing POPs.
• 16 02 14 - discarded equipment that is not hazardous, such as LED lamps without POPs and standard white goods.
• 16 02 15* - hazardous components removed from equipment, including printed circuit boards and fridge compressors that have not been fully treated.
• 16 06 01*, 16 06 02*, 16 06 05 - lead acid, nickel-cadmium and lithium batteries removed from equipment.

Where WEEE in the same container would take different codes, include all the relevant codes. If you cannot complete the assessment, GOV.UK says to treat the waste as hazardous and POPs waste as a precaution. Our hazardous waste regulations guide covers consignment notes and storage in more detail.

What business users must do

If your organisation uses electrical equipment and throws it away, you are a business user (sometimes called an end user), not a producer. Your obligations come from the WEEE Regulations and the waste duty of care.

1. Keep it separate. Do not put WEEE in general waste or mixed recycling. Store it securely and under cover, with batteries and damaged items kept apart.
2. Check who pays. If you are replacing equipment with new equipment that does the same job, the producer of the new equipment must take back the old item if you ask, even if it was made by someone else. For equipment bought before 13 August 2005 (historic WEEE) that you are not replacing, the cost of disposal falls on you. For later equipment, producers are generally responsible for financing treatment unless you have agreed otherwise in the purchase terms.
3. Use a registered carrier and permitted site. Check your carrier on the public register of waste carriers and confirm where the equipment will be treated.
4. Get the paperwork. Non-hazardous WEEE needs a waste transfer note, kept for two years. Hazardous WEEE in England and Wales needs a hazardous waste consignment note, kept for three years. In Scotland the equivalent is a special waste consignment note regulated by SEPA, and in Northern Ireland the regime is run by NIEA. In Wales, premises that produce hazardous waste may need registering with Natural Resources Wales.
5. Deal with data. Anything that stores data (laptops, phones, printers, servers, CCTV recorders) needs sanitising or destroying before it leaves your control. See our guide on disposing of old laptops.

What producers must do

Producers are the businesses that manufacture, rebrand or import electrical equipment and place it on the UK market, plus overseas sellers who sell direct to UK end users. Since 12 August 2025, operators of online marketplaces are also treated as producers for equipment sold on their platforms by non-UK suppliers.

• Producers placing more than 5 tonnes of EEE on the market in a compliance year must join a producer compliance scheme (PCS).
• Producers below 5 tonnes can register directly with their environmental regulator as a small producer.
• Products must carry the crossed-out wheeled bin symbol, and producers must keep records for at least four years.
• Distributors and retailers have separate take-back duties for household WEEE.

If you make, import or sell electrical products, our sister producer compliance scheme WERCS handles registration, data reporting and evidence for producers.

AATFs and WEEE evidence

An approved authorised treatment facility (AATF) is a permitted treatment site that has also been approved by the environmental regulator to issue evidence. Evidence is proof that a tonnage of WEEE in a given category has been treated or reused. It is created on the regulator's WEEE online system and accepted by producer compliance schemes, which use it to show their members have met their collection and recycling obligations.

An AATF can only issue evidence if it is the first AATF to receive the WEEE and the WEEE came from or for a compliance scheme. Evidence is issued as either household or non-household, depending on where the waste came from. For a business user, sending WEEE to an AATF means your equipment goes to a regulated site that treats it to defined standards and accounts for it by category.

How to arrange a WEEE collection

1. List what you have. Rough quantities by type, and anything damaged or swollen.
2. Flag hazardous items. Fridges, fluorescent tubes, CRTs, flat screens and loose batteries need separate handling and paperwork.
3. Separate data-bearing devices. Lock them away and decide whether you need erasure or shredding with a certificate.
4. Agree containers and access. Cages, pallets, lamp boxes and battery drums keep streams apart and stop breakage. Confirm loading access and any site rules.
5. Check the documents. Make sure the waste transfer note or consignment note has the right codes, quantities and treatment site, then file it with your waste records.

Digital waste tracking is also arriving. Permitted receiving sites must record waste on the government's Digital Waste Tracking service from October 2026 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with Scotland following in January 2027 and waste carriers expected to follow from October 2027. Our article on Digital Waste Tracking going live explains what changes for businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is WEEE waste?

WEEE waste is waste electrical and electronic equipment: any product that needed electric current or a battery to work and has been discarded. It is controlled by the WEEE Regulations 2013 and must be collected separately from general waste.

How many WEEE categories are there in the UK?

There are now 15. Vapes and electronic cigarettes were given their own category by the WEEE (Amendment) Regulations 2025, adding to the 14 categories used before then.

Is WEEE classed as hazardous waste?

Some is and some is not. Fridges, freezers and air conditioning, fluorescent tubes, display equipment containing POPs and some batteries are hazardous, while items such as standard white goods and LED lamps without POPs are usually non-hazardous.

Can a business put small electricals in general waste?

No. Electrical equipment from a business must be kept separate and passed to a registered carrier for treatment at a permitted facility, with a waste transfer note or consignment note.

Who pays for business WEEE disposal?

If you are buying new equipment to replace old, the producer of the new equipment must take back the old item on request. For historic WEEE bought before 13 August 2005 that is not being replaced, the business user pays.

What is an AATF?

An AATF is an approved authorised treatment facility: a permitted WEEE treatment site that the regulator has approved to issue evidence of treatment to producer compliance schemes.

How Waste Experts handles WEEE

Waste Experts runs its own AATF at Kirkheaton, Huddersfield (permit WEE/ME0006ZT/ATF), regulated by the Environment Agency. We collect business WEEE across all 15 categories, supply containers that keep lamps, batteries, cooling equipment and IT apart, and provide the waste transfer or consignment notes for every load. Business customers who prefer to drop off smaller quantities can use participating City Electrical Factors branches, of which there are over 390 across the UK. Branch drop-off is for business waste only.

Because treatment happens at our own facility, we can tell you where your equipment went and how it was coded. Data-bearing devices can go through our ITAD and data destruction service. See our electrical waste recycling service for what we collect.

Business customers only. Waste Experts collects from businesses and organisations, not households, and CEF branch drop-off is for business waste only. If you are getting rid of waste from your home, use your council's household waste recycling centre or a retailer take-back scheme instead.