Valpak Retail WEEE Services claims to have registered more than 75 per cent of UK electrical retailers to its distributor take-back scheme (DTS).

The company last week announced that it had registered well in excess of the required number of retailers needed to make a success of an industry-wide scheme, which will offset requirements under the WEEE Directive to collect used electrical equipment.

More than 2,300 retailers, including Argos, Comet, Tesco, Asda, Littlewoods Shop Direct Group, B&Q, Homebase, Boots, Selfridges, Sainsburys, Woolworths and Toys R Us have joined the DTS, alongside many independent retailers.

Notable by its absence is retail chain DSG Inter­national, the owner of Currys, Dixons and PC World, which has announced that it will be using in-store take-back to meet its obligations under the Directive (ERT Weekly, April 19, p5).

As members of the DTS, retailers do not have to make arrangements for in-store take-back, storage and disposal of their customers’ old electrical goods at the point of sale.

Instead, scheme members have pledged to contribute into a fund of £10 million, which will be used to assist the development of the UK’s network of WEEE collection facilities.
DTS members will then be responsible for promoting the use of these facilities to their customers.

Steve Gough, Valpak’s chief executive, said that retailers are still welcome to join the DTS, and reminded retailers that from July 1, they will either need to have become members or be ready to provide in-store take back in order to comply with the WEEE Regulations.

If they do not, they run the risk of prosecution, Valpak warned.

Valpak has also announced that potential designated collection facility (DCF) operators, such as local authorities and waste management companies, can now register their sites at www.valpak.co.uk/dts.