The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has today (3 September) launched a consultation process for a proposed sector-wide reuse standard for UK products.

The consultation for a ‘standard for the collection, processing and dispatch of products or components for reuse’ comes just over a year since WRAP opened the standard to tender.

The generic standard aims to help develop the UK’s reuse sector and enable producers to demonstrate quality assured items whilst ‘reassuring’ those purchasing reuse items that they adhere to a set of defined quality specifications.

Still in draft form, the Reuse Standard 2013 is being developed by WRAP in association with a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) comprising of UK stakeholders from across the reuse sector, including governments, public bodies and waste and resource management companies. It is hoped the standard will encourage the design of products that can be easily dismantled for material recovery, and phase out in-built obsolescence.

According to WRAP, for most of the products or components likely to be covered by this standard, reuse is preferable to recycling or disposal as ‘the resources and energy that were consumed in their original manufacture do not usually need to be replaced’.

The consultation document outlines that the standard could:

• encompass both waste and non-waste items in products or components for the purpose of selling or donating these products or components for further use;
• include a ‘formalised initial inspection’ procedure to determine whether products or components are to be assigned for processing as reuse items, including repair, or for recycling or other recovery treatment or disposal;
• utilise safety testing, which will ensure that, ‘as far as possible’, any product or component that is processed is safe for use as originally intended and free from defects that could cause harm to users;
• an allowance that sees any product or component which has passed the safety test but failed the function test being deemed suitable for reuse as long as properly labelled as not functioning and suggesting methods of repair; and
• an assurance that any personal information, i.e previous owners, is removed, or ‘if this is not possible the information is destroyed’.

The standard will be accompanied by a number of detailed requirement standards for specific product groups (such as electricals, furniture and textiles) that will need to be met by the processing organisations.

Consultation details

WRAP is asking ‘organisations and businesses undertaking the collection, processing and dispatch of products or components for reuse’ to submit ‘technical and editorial’ comments on the standard itself, as well as views on the extent of the need for product-specific requirements, and on branding, compliance and associated issues.

WRAP has said it would also encourage feedback from all customers and operators in the supply chain, and ‘procurers for reuse products and components, including business/private sector, trade associations, charity/voluntary bodies, central government, local/regional government, and agency/public bodies’.

Launching the consultation, Head of Resource Efficiency in Products and Services at WRAP, Dr David Moon, said: “An important constraint on the growth of this sector is weak consumer confidence in the quality of products offered for resale. This is partly due to the shortage of publicly available standards for preparing such items. The Reuse Standard will address this gap, and we now welcome comments that will help shape the standard.”

Standard ‘devastating for the future of the reuse sector’

However, some in the industry, including the Furniture Re-use Network has voiced ‘disappointment’ with the proposed standard, finding it ‘lacking in content and scope of risks, liabilities or application’.

The charity added that ‘such a poor standard would be devastating for the future of the reuse sector due to its very basic requirements leading to poor performance and expectation’.

Craig Anderson of the Furniture Re-use Network 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. This appears driven purely by waste legislation with a complete lack of reference to operational risks and management requirements that are commonly found in a distribution and retail environment; it should be remembered that reuse is for consumers in the main with waste only being the source of product in some circumstances.

“In our opinion the documents published are little more than a scoping study, at best a description and flow diagram of a simplified reuse method statement. 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. It is telling that, as quoted, neither WRAP nor the authors accept any liability whatsoever for any loss or damage caused, arising directly or indirectly, in connection with reliance on its contents.”

FRN added that the reuse standard could ‘give reuse consumers an impression of product quality that will prove lacking and potentially dangerous which will in turn be disastrous for a sector with such a long and worthy history’.

The WRAP consultation will run for two months.

Read more about the consultation here.

Scottish parallel

Scotland already has a similar standard, the Revolve reuse quality standard, aimed at ‘improving professionalism, customer experience and visibility’.

So far 12 Scottish organisations have been accredited, of which 10 were awarded with the standard earlier this year (22 April).

To achieve the Revolve standard, companies must pass two stages of the accreditation process: an entry stage, to check that the organisation is legally compliant and has assessed all risks; and a six-month accreditation stage, ‘focused on improving customer experience and making [the] organisation more robust’.

Only after achieving the EFQM Committed to Excellence award (validated by Quality Scotland), participating in the Revolve retail programme and passing a retail audit, is the organisation accredited.

Companies that receive the standard will be given use of Revolve product standards, promotion on the Revolve website, and access to the Revolve brand (supported by a Zero Waste Scotland national communications campaign), which together are meant to provide ‘increasing customer confidence’.

Read more about the Revolve standard.