Argos to trial in-store catalogue take back

The three week trial campaign, which is being run to coincide with the launch of the new Argos spring/summer catalogue, will initially cover 20 Argos stores in the West of England.

” The launch of our new catalogue is an excellent time for customers to come to the store, pick up a new catalogue and dispose of their old one with the comfort that it will be recycled “
– Laurence Singer, Argos
Blue containers will be placed at each of the participating stores, Argos then sends the paper to be recycled at the Shotton Newsprint mill owned by UPM-Kymmene.

Laurence Singer, Argos' corporate responsibility manager, said: “The launch of our new catalogue is an excellent time for customers to come to the store, pick up a new catalogue and dispose of their old one with the comfort that it will be recycled.

“There will be many customers who find local recycling points and kerbside collections equally convenient and we also encourage the use of these facilities to ensure catalogues do not end up in landfill,” he added.

In 2003 a schools survey, funded by Argos' parent company GUS, identified that about 30% of catalogues were currently being recycled. The aim of this new project is to get a much higher rate of return of old catalogues.

Nationwide implementation

If the trials are successful, Argos intends to implement the take-back offer to all 650 Argos stores Nationwide. According to Argos some of the company's stores have as many as 3,000 visitors per day, offering a huge potential for recycling.

A spokeswoman for Argos said that at this stage working out how recycling credits would be handed out was to be looked at as part of the trial. Local authorities involved with the trial would be helping to work this out.

Argos Retail Group uses substantial volumes of paper in the production of catalogues and marketing materials – last year it produced 35 million catalogues, using 68,000 tonnes of paper.

In order to minimise the impact of this paper on the environment the company already uses forecast models to try and reduce the number of unused catalogues at the end of each season.