Leader: What will WEEE mean?

So the WEEE Directive is finally limping into effect in the UK after years of delays, procrastination and uncertainty. However, we wait to see whether policy-makers have done enough to make this 'green IT' legislation effective.

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive came into force on 1 January and requires manufacturers to take responsibility for the 'end of life' of the computer and electronics equipment they have sold to consumers.

But it will only take effect from 1 July 2007 - which looks for all the world like yet another pointless delay (given manufacturers of electrical equipment have already had three deadlines which they thought they would have to be ready for).

After that 1 July deadline it seems likely manufacturers will start to increase the cost of goods in order to cover the requirement upon them to take responsibility for the end-of-life disposal of that kit.

While fewer PCs should therefore end up in landfill we suspect it will be the cost of making that happen which becomes buried instead.

Another certainty is that the introduction of the WEEE Directive will coincide with improvements in the way we use and reuse IT equipment that have a positive environmental impact.

So the end justifies the means?

Perhaps but these two could also be entirely unrelated. In the intervening years between the WEEE Directive first being conceived and its eventual UK introduction, manufacturers and even end-users have introduced their own 'green' agendas as a result of changing opinions and moods among consumers relating to environmentalism.

Vendors are possibly reacting to the fact they would eventually have to be WEEE-compliant but some have for a while been operating well in advance of the responsibilities the Directive would require of them. Why? Because 'green' sells, especially as the higher-ups within organisations have woken up to phrases such as 'carbon footprint' and realised they have a part to play in more socially responsible business.

There is a long way to go but the WEEE Directive may be turning up at a party that is already well underway.

And while we hope WEEE does work, or at least that its introduction coincides with a major shift towards more environmentally sound practices in the IT industry, if the tardy UK government lays claim to too major a part in making this happen, it will look for all the world like somebody taking credit for the ebbing of the tides.

Where the WEEE Directive may prove effective in the long term is in ensuring there is little room for companies to backtrack when being green stops being this year's big thing.