In early August the Department of Trade and Industry announced what many had expected: that implementation of the EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE ) Directive is to be put on hold for another six months. The DTI said manufacturers are not yet in a position to implement the directive and the manufacturers duly praised the government’s judgement.

Twenty-one countries have managed to implement WEEE. The UK is one of six laggards. A year ago the DTI assured us that all was on track. It had just entered an unexpected third and final stage of consultation on its proposals for implementing two European directives concerning disposal and recycling of electronic goods and the use of hazardous substances in electronic and electrical products.

There had already been more than a year and a half of consultations and the DTI had admitted it would miss a 13 August 2004 deadline, though it insisted it would put the rules into effect by August 2005 as required by the EU.

Now the DTI has chosen a quiet news period to announce a further delay, which will lead to an automatic fine from the EU.

The UK currently has the presidency of the EU, so it is more than just embarrassing. It shows a lack of leadership on a matter of huge environmental concern. Everyone expects implementation to be clunky and slow at first, but the IT industry should by now have at least started to clean up its act.

There are also economic impacts. The delay adds to uncertainty in the recycling industry and makes it hard for firms to calculate future costs of disposal. It also poses the question of how other countries have managed to put the directive into action.

Despite our growing recycling industry, many PCs and related kit end up in landfill. The WEEE directive will make manufacturers and distributors more responsible for disposal, re-use and recycling of old kit. Broadly speaking these firms will have to collect an equivalent of the amount they sell each year – known as like-for-like collection.

The irony is that manufacturers are keen to tout their green credentials these days. No press conference is complete without an update on green policies that give the impression vendors sell hardware that can be converted into a green organic slush at the touch of a “recycle-me-now” button.

Of course such keenness must be applauded. But individual green programmes do not add up to a comprehensive European recycling scheme.

Meanwhile, the failure to agree a way forward is a failure of government management that will waste taxpayers’ money in the payment of fines. And it suggests that corporate IT buyers have put little pressure on manufacturers to prove their green credentials.

The DTI’s inability to meet the WEEE deadline is a scandal. It speaks volumes about this country’s woeful approach to protecting the environment and the government’s inability to meet its own targets for cleaning up waste.

‹ keny@cix.co.uk