The DTI has announced its appointment of leading Producer Responsibility Scheme, Valpak as operator of the Distributor Take Back Scheme (DTS) for retailers under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations.

Following this appointment, which has resulted from a comprehensive period of discussion between Valpak, the DTI, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Local Authorities, Valpak would like to urge both retailers and Local Authorities to participate in the scheme, and take advantage of its benefits.

The Scheme will be operated by Valpak and is open to all retailers who wish to opt out of obligations to take back old electrical products instore on a one-for-one and like-for-like basis.

The DTS will collect a total of £10m from retailer members which will make up a fund to be used in assisting in the enhancement of the UK's network of WEEE collection facilities. Funding of up to £9,000 per Civic Amenity (CA) site will be provided to Local Authorities, to be spent as they wish on site improvements. A registration payment of £6,000 will be made to all sites, with a further £3,000 available to those sites that justify this additional expenditure.

Steve Gough, Valpak's Chief Executive said: "We look forward to meeting the challenges of a tight timescale brought about by the required changes to the draft regulations and guidance. In order for the scheme to be successful, we will need the full co-operation of retailers, enabling us to collect funds in order to have everything in place for WEEE Day on 1 July 2007. We will shortly be contacting Local Authorities and will be running a series of seminars with more information for them early in the New Year."

Nigel Smith, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy at the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said: "Valpak was our operator of choice and we are delighted their scheme has been approved. We shall be encouraging BRC members and other retailers to find out more about joining".

Those retailers who join the scheme, which includes any business supplying electrical products to households, will be fully exempt from any requirement to offer instore take back for the full term of the scheme's appointment (three years), by payment of a one off fee which will be related to their sales of electrical equipment in 2006. The scheme will also assist its members in their obligation to educate customers as to the availability of collection facilities.

Retailers who decide against joining the scheme will be offered the option of being added to a voluntary register to assist in enforcement of the regulations.

Thanks to the WEEE Regulations, Local Authorities (LAs) will no longer have to pay for treating the hazardous electrical equipment that they collect at CA sites (or equivalent sites, such as waste recycling centres). Through bulky waste collections LAs will be able to increase their recycling rate at no extra cost, and will benefit as the recipients of additional funding from retailers.

For more information, please log on to www.valpak.co.uk.