 Dixons will not be signing up to the WEEE scheme covering civic amenity sites |
Despite the loss of the companies from the national CA site scheme, councils will still receive 9 million to upgrade their sites to handle waste electrical and electronic equipment from July 1 2007.
Dixons and Currys are part of the DSG International group which also includes PC World and all today confirmed that they are not signing up to the national scheme which will be run by Valpak on behalf of the British Retail Consortium.
Valpak is expected to tell councils soon about allocations of funding although it is facing a tight timetable to get sites in place by July 1.
Retailers had been given a choice by the Department of Trade and Industry over how they could meet their obligations under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. Retailers were allowed either to join the national scheme or to offer in-store take-back.
CA sites
The loss of the DSG companies is seen as potentially being a severe financial blow to the CA site scheme, which is officially known as the Distributor Take Back Scheme. DSG is thought to have about a 30% market share in the electrical sector and so could have been expected to put 2-3 million into the 9 million kitty for councils.
However, councils are not expected to lose out because the shortfall will be made up by other retailers. It will not be contributed to by the Department of Trade and Industry because of state-aid rules.
While some other retailers are expected to reassess their support for the national CA site scheme, it is generally harder for them to offer in-store take back. Dixons and Currys have an advantage over some retailers because they have a large number of retail park sites where it will be easier to handle take-back material from consumers. They also do not generally sell other products, for example such as Tesco, which could face waste items coming into a store where fresh food was being sold if it was to run an in-store scheme.
Manageable
DSG is also understood to have researched the take-back situation in other European states and found that such an approach is manageable. It already offers a paid-for service for old white goods when new products are delivered and so is likely to get mainly smaller items back at its stores. And, members of the public will also be quite likely to still discard some items and also take them to the civic amenity sites as well.
Vivien Williams, DSG international’s environment manager said: “We’ve been handling end of life products, notably white goods, for our customers for many years as part of our service – and having evaluated all WEEE compliance options we believe that our store take-back service will offer the maximum convenience and benefit to customers.”
The national scheme is being run for the British Retail Consortium. BRC environment director Nigel Smith, said: “The scheme is still alive and well and we still plan to comply on behalf of retailers by July 1.”
The Department of Trade and Industry remained positive about the decisions by the Dixons Group to choose the in-store route. A spokesman for the Department said: “Sign-up to the Distributor Takeback Scheme (DTS) has been positive and has seen a healthy take up from both large and small retailers. The DTS proposed by retailers themselves, is one of two options available to retailers, giving them the flexibility to meet their obligations under the regulations to take back electrical goods that they sell.
Prosecution
“The success of the scheme is not based on just one or two members, and as the sign-up has shown, has significant takeup that will enable the DTS to be a viable option for retailers. Retailers can continue to register. The key date is 1 July, when they will either have to provide in store takeback or be members of the DTS. After 1 July retailers will run the risk of prosecution if they do not meet the requirements of the regulations. An enforcement agency is to be appointed in April this year.”
It is not known yet which contractor will be collecting the WEEE from Dixons and Currys stores. However, it is expected that the group will be joining a producer scheme which will allow it to count in the WEEE it collects – as well as from its take-back scheme – towards its producer responsibility targets. This is because the company also sells its own products and so has a producer as well as a retailer role.
Valpak chief executive Steve Gough, said today that the distributor takeback scheme was rapidly taking shape. “We now have 2,200 retailers registerd, with 400 in the last week. This makes up the second largest compliance regime in the UK.” Referring in part to the DSG Group decision, Mr Gough said: “The scheme has been specifically designed not to be reliant on any one company participation.”
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