The government has ramped up enforcement checks for mandatory vape recycling measures under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations.
In a letter sent to many stores earlier this month, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) urged retailers to make sure they are following the law. The letter, seen by Better Retailing, said to stores: “We are writing to you as our initial research indicates you supply new EEE and demonstrate no evidence of a takeback process”.
It is unclear which shops were chosen to receive the letter, with a senior vape industry source questioning what “initial research” OPSS could do “unless they physically send someone out to the store”.
Some shops were required to submit evidence of their takeback schemes, with one retailer who received the letter saying: “We got the letter a few days ago. We are compliant, so we just emailed the proof, and they replied saying they were satisfied.”
Kent County Council operations manager James Whiddett advised stores to get in contact with local trading standards, waste recycling firms or trade organisations for advice on how to best comply with WEEE, stating: “We’ve put letters together and emailed 700 stores.”
He continued: “For a convenience store, vapes are one product out of many they sell. Will they have researched everything they need to do? No, they won’t. Most retailers don’t expect you to bring a product back, so there is a lot of education to do.”
Retailers unprepared for upcoming recycling laws
He added that Kent County Council found last week there was a 26% compliance rate with WEEE within its Local Vape Action scheme, launched in September.
Ed Woodall, ACS government relations director, advised that retailers must have “a proper dedicated container in a specific location ideally away from sunlight or any heat source”. Ensuring a regular turnover of vapes and not storing returned vape for more than a few weeks are also important, he said.
Nearly all vape recyc-ling services come with significant costs for stores, with prices seen by Better Retailing ranging from £160-to-£220+VAT per 12 kilograms of vapes collected.
Shops with sales of less than £1,923 per week in electrical goods can instead pay to join a Distributor Takeback Scheme, where they help fund local-authority recycling instead of hosting a recycling point in store.
“Most vape bins are filled up every one-to-three weeks. Turnover is quite high, and you can have that written down as a policy in case you get questions from your insurance provider,” Woodall said.
“Make sure you’re offering a vape recycling service,” said ACS public affairs manager Daniel Askew. “Data shows how many more customers are getting used to bringing back used vapes to convenience stores. A third of retailers are having bins filled up every two weeks.”
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