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Guidance

Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE): reuse and treatment

Apply to become an approved authorised treatment facility and how to operate legally under the approval.

From:
Environment Agency
Published:
6 May 2014
Last updated:
30 July 2026 — See all updates

You can apply for additional approval to become an approved authorised treatment facility (AATF) if:

  • you operate a WEEE authorised treatment facility (ATF)
  • you are currently receiving, treating and recycling WEEE

AATFs can issue evidence notes for reuse and treatment on the UK WEEE they receive on behalf of producer compliance schemes (PCSs). This WEEE is known as ‘obligated WEEE’.

See the detail in the WEEE evidence and national protocols guidance.

To apply for approval you must:

Approvals cover the period from 1 January to 31 December.

You can apply for approval at any time in the year, but you need to apply at least 12 weeks before you want the approval to start. This is to give the regulator enough time to make a decision. 

If you want your approval to start on 1 January, you must apply by 30 September in the previous year. 

If you apply and get an approval part way through a year, it will still end on 31 December that year.

If you operate more than one ATF, you must apply for approval and pay the application fee for each site.

Charges for AATFs

There is a charge for applying to be an AATF for WEEE.

If you are a small AATF and issue evidence for more than 400 tonnes of WEEE during a compliance year, you must pay the balance of the higher charge to the relevant environmental regulator within 28 days.

If your application is refused, your payment will not be refunded.

Pay for AATFs in England

To find out what you need to pay for AATFs in England, check Part 2 of the Waste (Miscellaneous) (England) Charging Scheme 2018.

The charge in Section 10 (1) is for AATFs that intend to issue evidence notes for no more than 400 tonnes of WEEE during the approval period.  

The charge in Section 10 (2) is for AAFTs that intend to issue evidence notes for more than 400 tonnes of WEEE during the approval period.

To pay by: 

  • electronic transfer (BACS), make the payment when you complete the online form – you’ll be asked to enter a payment reference number in the application 

  • credit or debit card, select this option in the application and a member of the team will contact you after they receive your application, to take the payment 

Contact the team before you start your application if you cannot pay by BACS, debit card or credit card.

Pay for AATFs in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales

For AATF charges in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, contact your environmental regulator. You can pay your fee to those regulators by: 

  • debit card or credit card (using Quickpay), or BACS to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency 

  • BACS to Natural Resources Wales and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency 

Contact the relevant regulator before you start your application if you cannot pay by these methods.

Before you start your application

In your application you need to upload:

  • a sampling and inspection plan - see ‘Sampling and inspection plans’ for details of what this must include
  • a completed template of actual annual recovery and recycling rates, for any site that was an AATF in the previous compliance year – your information is used to report the UK recovery and recycling rates to demonstrate that the minimum percentages have been met 

Have the following information ready when you begin the application: 

  • for corporate bodies, your company registration number and your company registration document 

  • for partnerships, a document showing evidence of the partnership  

  • your AATF approval number, broker registration number and waste carrier registration number, if relevant 

  • details of any environmental permits 

  • details of any registered exemptions

Sampling and inspection plan

In the application form, you’ll be asked to upload your sampling and inspection plan. This must include details of how you determine:

Your plan must also include details about: 

  • any local (site‐based) or nationally agreed protocols you use and the audit systems you use to make sure that evidence notes are issued correctly 

  • whether you accept self-clearing WEEE from a local authority DCF and, if so, which local authority DCF and the collection streams you will accept from it 

  • how you, or the downstream sites you send WEEE to, are able to achieve the recovery and recycling targets set out in the WEEE regulations 

  • how you avoid double-counting WEEE, so that evidence is not issued on the same WEEE twice 

  • whether any WEEE is sent for energy recovery

If you will refurbish whole items at the site for reuse, your sampling and inspection plan must also include: 

  • details of how you identify WEEE that’s suitable for reuse 

  • a description of the visual testing, persistent organic pollutant (POPs) assessment, electrical safety testing and functionality testing procedures 

  • evidence that there’s a valid market for the reused electrical and electronic equipment  

  • details of what happens to items that fail your reuse process 

If you have questions about the plan, or want a template to complete, contact the relevant UK regulator.

Apply for approval

Your application will go to the environmental regulator of the UK country that your business is registered or located in. The regulators are:

  • Environment Agency (England) 

  • Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Scotland) 

  • Natural Resources Wales (Wales) 

  • Northern Ireland Environment Agency (Northern Ireland)

Do not submit your 2027 application before 1 September 2026. If you do, it will be rejected and you will need to start a new application.

You can start your application before 1 September 2026, but you must save it and come back on or after that date to submit it.

Start now

What happens next 

It can take up to 12 weeks to assess and make a decision on your application. A site visit might be needed as part of the assessment. 

If your application is approved before 1 January, your approval will run from 1 January to 31 December of the following year. If you apply part-way through a year, your approval will start on the date the decision is made and end on 31 December.   

If your application is refused, you’ll be told why and given details of your right to appeal.

Your duties if you become an AATF

You must:

Prioritise reuse of whole appliances

AATFs must work with PCSs and designated collection facilities (DCFs) to prioritise reuse of whole appliances and remove these products at the earliest opportunity from the WEEE treatment and recycling chain.

Keep records and report

You must complete a quarterly return and submit it to the environmental regulator that granted your approval.

You must do this through the WEEE online system.

In each quarterly return you must state the:

  • total amount of WEEE received for treatment in tonnes by category, whether household or non-household, and the scheme it was received from
  • total amount of WEEE delivered to another ATF for treatment in tonnes by category, whether household or non-household and the scheme it was received from, including the name and address of the ATF operator and the site address of where the treatment took place if different
  • total amount of WEEE for reuse as a whole appliance in tonnes by category, whether household or non-household and the scheme it was received from, which you will issue evidence on and where WEEE is not received by you but goes direct to another site doing the refurbishment under contract to you, the name and address of the ATF operator
  • name of each scheme that evidence has been issued to and the total tonnage of evidence issued to that scheme
  • total amount of non-obligated WEEE received in tonnes by category
  • total amount of non-obligated WEEE received from DCFs in tonnes by category

If you have no data to report for a quarter you must still report this by submitting a nil return.

You must keep a copy of your data and any supporting information you used to make the return. For example, waste consignment and transfer notes, contract details, weighbridge tickets, photographs and invoices as added proof of your work. You must keep these for 4 years.

Your environmental regulator will check this information when doing compliance audits.

Quarterly reporting dates

You must submit your data returns for:

  • quarter 1 (January, February, March) by 30 April
  • quarter 2 (April, May, June) by 31 July
  • quarter 3 (July, August, September) by 31 October
  • quarter 4 (October, November, December) by 31 January

Issue evidence

You must issue evidence notes to a PCS through the WEEE online system – a secure website that generates evidence notes.

See the WEEE evidence and national protocols guidance for details on how to:

  • issue evidence notes
  • meet WEEE recovery and recycling targets
  • apply WEEE protocols (to work out the amount of different categories of WEEE in mixed loads)

WEEE export rules

You must apply to become an approved exporter (AE) or ensure you export via an AE if you want to:

  • issue evidence on whole appliances for reuse overseas received from, or on behalf of, a PCS
  • export materials extracted from WEEE for treatment, recovery or recycling outside the UK (that have been received from an AATF who issues the evidence on this WEEE)

See the guidance on how to apply to become an approved exporter.

Sanctions for non-compliance

Your environmental regulator may suspend or cancel your AATF status if you fail, or are likely to fail, to comply with any of the conditions in Part 2 (AATF), or Part 3 (AE) of Schedule 11 of the WEEE regulations or supply false or misleading information.

You’ll receive a notice which:

  • gives the reasons for the suspension or cancellation
  • states the actions you need to take to lift the suspension or reapply for approval
  • describes your right to appeal

Your WEEE online account and public register entry will be updated to reflect your status.

A suspension or cancellation of your approval means you cannot issue evidence notes – only WEEE received during ‘approved’ status can have evidence issued against it.

Other sanctions for non-compliance are:

  • warning letters
  • formal cautions
  • prosecution under criminal law:
    • at a magistrates court an unlimited fine for each offence
    • at Crown Court an unlimited fine

Get help

If you have questions, need help completing your application, or would like the form in a different format, contact the relevant environmental regulator:

England

Email: weee@environment-agency.gov.uk

Telephone: 03708 506 506

WEEE Producer Responsibility
Environment Agency
Quadrant 2
99 Parkway Avenue
Parkway Business Park
Sheffield
S9 4WF

Scotland

Email: producer.responsibility@sepa.org.uk

Telephone: 01786 457700

Producer Compliance and Waste Shipment Unit
Scottish Environment Protection Agency
Strathallan House
Castle Business Park
Stirling
FK9 4TZ

Northern Ireland

Email: weee@daera-ni.gov.uk

Telephone: 028 9056 9338

Producer Responsibility Unit
Northern Ireland Environment Agency
1st Floor Bradan
NIEA Lisburn
17 Antrim Road
Tonagh, LISBURN
BT28 3AL

Wales

Email: weee@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk

Telephone: 0300 065 3000

Producer Responsibility Unit
Natural Resources Wales
Rivers House
St Mellons Business Park
St Mellons
Cardiff
CF3 0EY

Find out about call charges.

Updates to this page

Published 6 May 2014
Last updated 30 July 2026 Show all updates

  1. Start button and link added to the new online application form, along with information on what to have ready before applying and how to pay the application fee.

  2. The address for the Northern Ireland environmental regulator has been updated.

  3. Corrected the charges for AATFs by removing all references to out of date information and replacing with a link to Part 2 of the Waste (Miscellaneous) (England) Charging Scheme 2018. Removed reference to the European Commission and WEEE Directive as no longer relevant due to EU Exit. Updated the contact information for the environmental regulator for England to WEEE Producer Responsibility (not Producer Responsibility Regulatory Services). Updated one of the sanctions for non-compliance which is prosecution under criminal law at a magistrates court with an unlimited fine for each offence, to reflect the 2015 law that removed the £5,000 cap that used to limit the maximum fines magistrates could impose.

  4. Approved authorised treatment facilities and approved exporters must now submit their quarterly returns through the WEEE online system.

  5. We have updated with the new charges.

  6. Added guidance on completing the recovery and recycling rate template.

  7. Updated to include both Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and regulator guidance.

  8. First published.

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