Amazon and eBay to pay 'fair share' for e-waste recycling under new Government plans

The Government is set to make online marketplaces and vape producers pay their "fair share" for the recycling of electrical waste in Britain. Currently, UK firms such as Currys, Argos, Apple Retail UK, Tesco , and Microsoft contribute to an Environment Agency fund for e-waste collection and recycling. However, foreign companies selling electronics to UK customers via online platforms like Amazon and eBay have avoided this expense.

Circular economy minister Mary Creagh announced on Tuesday that these online giants will soon be expected to shoulder some of these costs, aiming to "level the playing field" for British businesses. Additionally, vapes will no longer be lumped with "toys, leisure and sports equipment" but will instead be recognised in a new category of electrical waste. This move, according to Ms Creagh, will ensure vape suppliers are responsible for financing the disposal and treatment of their products as waste.



"It’s absolutely extraordinary that they are classed as toys and leisure products," she remarked. "That is clearly not right". These changes are scheduled to take effect in January 2026.

In the UK, about 100,000 tonnes of household electrical goods are discarded each year, contributing to carbon emissions from production and the harmful release of chemicals from unprocessed e-waste. An estimated 880 million unwanted items containing valuable commodities such as gold and platinum have also been abandoned or ignored in the back of cupboards and drawers, according to non-profit Material Focus. Ms Creagh said the new proposals are part of wider Government plans to generate a more circular economy in the UK as she visited Currys’ 500,000-square foot repair centre in Newark, Nottinghamshire, on Monday.

The minister said: "Under these new plans, online marketplaces – Amazon, eBay and others – will face much tougher obligations to ensure that overseas sellers who use their platforms contribute to that cost of collection and recycling." She stated that this would bolster UK high streets, aiding brick-and-mortar shops that are grappling to match the low prices of online giants, and also protect consumers stuck with shoddy goods from abroad. When quizzed about whether these costs might deter producers from the UK market, she countered: "I think it’s really important that these measures put overseas businesses on a level playing field with UK businesses.

" "There can be no free-riding in the UK economy and it’s really important that we capture the previous materials in waste materials and that we keep those resources in use for longer." Ms Creagh hailed the operations at Currys' Newark repair centre, where a plethora of faulty, returned or broken items are dealt with weekly, as "absolutely vital" for fostering a circular economy. She praised the efforts, saying, "We’ve got a lot of things being manufactured and made in China in South Korea but this is a really good example of a proud British company innovating, investing and responsibly treating electrical waste so it can be used over and over again and used for longer.

" Alex Baldock, the CEO of Currys, said: "We welcome the Government’s new measures to help level the playing field for responsibility for waste, making online marketplaces do their part. "Low value, low quality and unsustainable tech is piling up in landfills, and it’s good to see Government doing something to tackle that." An Amazon spokesperson said: "Amazon is committed to minimising waste and helping our customers to reuse, repair, and recycle their products.

We provide a range of options through the Amazon Second Chance website, and customers can recycle electronics through Amazon Trade-In and home collection services on our Amazon Recycling website. “We also work closely with many major repair partners like GXO ServiceTech to repair and refurbish thousands of electronic products to help give them a second life.” According to the proposed regulations, online marketplaces will be required to register with the Environment Agency and submit data on the UK sales of their international sellers.

This data will then be used to calculate the financial contribution the online marketplace will make towards the costs of e-waste collection and treatment. The cost of that annual registration will be subject to a consultation led by the Environment Agency. Also announced by the Government on Tuesday was the launch of a Circular Economy Taskforce, which will see members from industry, academia, and civil society lead the development of a strategy for England to be published next year.

More widely, ministers are planning to push ahead with the long-awaited deposit return scheme for drinks containers and extended producer responsibility rules that will require packaging producers to pay for the recycling and waste management of the products they make..