The 2007 WEEE Directive changed much in the electrical and white goods sector. It forced producers to think how they could make their products more recyclable, it led local authorities to clamp down on dumping of unwanted goods and it also forced retailers to think afresh about how they could play their part in this new challenge.

A number introduced take-back systems, but of the main retailers it’s Currys, part of the larger Dixons group, that has taken the lead, setting up a scheme that is free to the customer and makes use of reverse logistics.

“When the new directive came in, we wanted to differentiate ourselves from other retailers”, explains Stewart Potts, Dixons’ Head of Recycling and Reuse. “Quite frankly, being the largest electrical retailer in the UK, we wanted to do something different. We wanted to do something that was better for our customers and, ultimately, better for the environment.” And this, despite the fact that the customers themselves hadn’t exerted any pressure on the company; Potts hypothesises this may be because “there wasn’t a full understanding at that time of exactly what it meant”.

Since then, though, many customers have taken full advantage of Currys’ offering. The scheme launched in June 2007 and works on a simple basis. Customers can physically return their WEEE to any of the 560 Currys stores in the UK, regardless of where it was originally purchased. Alternatively, if they are having a new electrical product home delivered, they can arrange to have the product it is replacing collected at the same time. The scheme covers not just Currys, but also PC World, Dixons.co.uk and all the constituent parts of the Dixons group in Europe.

After collection, the various pieces of WEEE get transported to Dixons’ recycling partner, Environcom, and its depot in Grantham, just 18 miles from the main Currys facility in Newark. Potts explains: “They take the WEEE off and visually inspect if it looks like it can be reused – yes or no. If not, it goes straight for recycling. If they think it can be then they’ll do a full PAT [Portable Appliance Testing] test on it to make sure it’s electrically sound. They’ll then do a full working test on it. They have a massive reuse facility there and obviously once the unit is deemed to be safe and working they grade it. It then goes back out to the different parts of the market that want different graded material.” Potts estimates that between 15-20 per cent of the WEEE that Currys collects gets reused.

The rest then gets broken down, separated, shredded and recycled by Environcom, which has the capacity to cope with all types of WEEE, from fridges and freezers to computers and smaller products.

Though it’s unfortunate so much is shredded and recycled rather than disassembled and reused, Potts is adamant that there’s no catch to the scheme, which is self funding. “Roughly speaking, it’s cost neutral and we can achieve that because we are the biggest in the market. So there are efficiencies there, and also with our vehicle fleet. We have re-engineered our entire system so when a lorry full of new goods goes out, a lorry full of recycled comes back to just down the road from where it would be parked up for the night anyway.

“But I’d say what ultimately makes it work financially for us is [the scheme is a] differentiator. It drives more customers into our stores because it’s a proposition that’s different to everyone else.”

Potts estimates that the Dixons group as a whole ends up collecting some 45,000 tonnes of WEEE annually, including 27,500 tonnes of large domestic appliances (such as cookers, washing machines and dishwashers). This is up from 42,000 tonnes in 2008, the first full year of the scheme.

However just one per cent of that 2010 total comprised small items of WEEE – the kettles, iPods and toasters that because of their size are so much easier to discard. “That is one of the problems at the moment”, admits Potts. “All too often people just throw them in the bin. But increasing collection of small WEEE is one of the things we do hope to improve. We’re about to go into a campaign with the British Heart Foundation that will hopefully drive customers to bring their small electrical appliances back to us. You know, ‘If you’re going into a store to buy a kettle, then why not put the old one in your bag and we’ll take it off you?’”

Potts is honest enough to admit that the new legislation forced the Dixons group to rethink its approach to recycling. “It’s obviously changed us. We have always taken products back but, well, we all remember the pictures of the fridge mountains everywhere, and so I guess the enthusiasm to increase our recycling performance has been enhanced by the legislation. It’s made us think differently. As a producer, we now have a responsibility and it’s a responsibility that we take seriously.”

As for the future, Potts hopes that by encouraging customer awareness, the overall tonnages that the scheme collects will be driven up, with particular attention being given to increasing the amount of reusable WEEE. “We have already started to develop ways to increase this with Environcom. Also we are now actively promoting trade-ins – where you can trade in one product for a new model – and hopefully that will generate more reusable volume.” (It will also encourage consumers to buy more, so discouraging them from using a product until the end of its viable life, but that’s a whole other issue for an entirely different article!)

And perhaps it is only a matter of time before the scheme is imitated by Currys’ competitors. As the customers clearly like it and it makes environmental and legislative sense, is free take back something that is set to be part of the whole electrical retail market soon?

Potts, for one, is doubtful. “I don’t [believe so], actually. I don’t think [others] have the scale to do what we do. To offer this to all of your customers on every delivery that you do, you have to have a national scale. You have to have enough vehicles, you have to have enough drivers and installers and you have to have enough trailers to bring it back. Plus you have to have a very good recycling partner that believes that reuse is the way forward – half of Environcom’s site is dedicated to reuse. Other retailers don’t have the facilities or the scale.”

Until they do, the UK’s market leader in the electrical retail looks likely to remain its leader in electrical recycling, too.