BRC to award retail compliance scheme contract by mid August

A tender document is now available from the BRC for proposals for the running of the scheme. The deadline for the proposals is Monday August 8 2005.

Nigel Smith, corporate social responsibility director at the BRC, said: “It is great to see our efforts over the final year come to fruition as we take the process to the next step. We are working towards a deadline of having things in place to start passing out funds by September. It doesn't give us much time for the tendering process.”

The Retail Compliance Scheme is seen by retailers as a safer and more practical alternative to having to set up free in store take back of electrical equipment to meet the obligations of the WEEE Directive, the BRC said.

A spokesman for the BRC said: “Retailers will put funds into a central pot, which will be used to upgrade civic amenity sites so they are better prepared to accept WEEE and can become a designated collection point.

Sites


“The scheme was given the green light by the Government in May 2005 and 75% of sites have already expressed an interest in upgrading,” he added.

The BRC also said that it was looking for an operator to manage the scheme initially for a three-year term. During the first year, the operator will be responsible for recruiting retailers into the scheme, collecting funds and distributing the funds to individual civic amenity sites, it said.

In the following years, the winning bidder will be expected to provide an administrative role including dealing with applications for maintenance funds and updating the member register.