FRN slams WRAPs poor draft reuse standard

WRAPs proposed Reuse Standard 2013 has been branded poor and devoid of content by the Furniture Re-use Network (FRN).

The non-profit reuse body said that the draft standard was would be devastating for the sector as it would lead to poor-quality reuse products and negatively impact on consumer confidence in the sector.

FRNs comments came in response to the start of a two-month consultation on the draft Reuse Standard, which was launched yesterday (September 3) by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

The reuse sector-wide quality standard aims to enable UK organisations to put their reuse products through a quality-assured process, which WRAP hopes will build customer confidence in reuse products.

The standard is also supported by a number of product-specific requirements with additional criteria, which will need to be met by the processing organisation for specific groups such as electricals, textiles and furniture.

In addition to seeking technical and editorial comments on the Standard itself, WRAP is seeking views on the extent of the need for product-specific requirements and on branding, compliance and associated issues.

Disappointment

But, greeting WRAPs draft standard with disappointment, FRN said the standard would be devastating for the future of the reuse sector due to its very basic requirements leading to poor performance and expectation.

Chief executive of FRN, Craig Anderson, said: This is a poor standard, devoid of content, with little to no evidence of utilising the knowledge, experience and expertise of the reuse sector operators or the logistical and retail sectors.

He added that the light-touch standard and its accompanying branding would produce reuse products lacking in quality and potentially dangerous, giving consumers a false impression of that standard of products they purchase.

Mr Anderson also claimed the standard was little more than a scoping study driven purely by waste legislation that failed to address operational risks and management requirements commonly found in distribution and retail sectors.

He said: To adopt this as a standard without fully embracing the intricacies and details of a reuse operation would harm the sector and give no confidence or assurance to the consumer, discarder or contractor.

FRN, which supports more than 300 charitable re-use organisations across the UK, said it would be making a fuller response to the consultation in the coming months.

Consumer confidence

However, Dr David Moon, head of resource efficiency in products and services at WRAP, said the standard would help address the problem of weak consumer confidence in reuse products.

Launching the consultation yesterday, Dr Moon said: An important constraint on the growth of this sector is weak consumer confidence in the quality of products offered for re-sale. This is partly due to the shortage of publicly available standards for preparing such items. The Re-use Standard will address this gap, and we now welcome comments that will help shape the Standard.

WRAP has commissioned environmental consultancy Oakdene Hollins to prepare the Standard and manage the consultation process, which will run for a two-month period.

The Reuse Standard 2013 was drafted in association with a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) comprising of UK stakeholders from across the reuse sector; including governments, public bodies, commercial and charitable re-use operators, and waste and resource management companies.