Dr Chris France is a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Centre for Environmental Strategy at the University of Surrey and Programme Director of

the Surrey/Brunel EngD programme. His research interests include supply chain management, environmental performance indicators and end-of-life issues. Since the late 1980s, various governments have been moving towards a new market-based approach to waste management known as ÔProducer ResponsibilityÕ. Through this approach, producers of electrical and electronic equipment will be made respon-sible for the end-of-life waste management costs of their products. Focusing on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (W E E E), this paper examines the environmental rationale behind this new approach to waste management, and discusses its political evolution and development across Europe. Cases for the most effective and workable approaches are argued, and the scope and implications of future legislation in the UK is summarised. It is concluded that Producer Responsibility will be effective only if legislation is deployed such that well-defined price mechanisms result in the appropriate level of environmental improvement. This will be achieved in the U K only if producers become more proactive in collaborating with each other, and with policy-makers, in propos-ing a suitable way forward. u Centre for Environmental Strategy