Our ‘re-use, refurbish, recycle’ scheme for retail point of sale celebrates its first anniversary – signing up global brands & saving over 375 tonnes of materials from landfill in its first year alone.
In the retail industry, plenty goes on behind the scenes that the consumer never sees. For brands, it’s not just about creating exciting products to tempt the customers – it’s also about how their ranges are displayed to have maximum impact.
But when a brand refreshes its look and feel in a supermarket, pharmacy or shop, where do the big old plastic cosmetic units with all their components end up? You know you’re doing your bit – recycling your make up tubes and pots – but what happens to the much bigger problem of commercial plastic?
It was this issue that resonated deeply with us.
Just one year ago – in the midst of the pandemic – we launched our nationwide ‘re-use, refurbish, recycle’ aftermarket initiative. This innovative sustainability scheme meant that brands could send their old in-store stands and furniture back to us to be refurbished, re-used or recycled – rescuing waste from landfill.
And as we celebrate the scheme’s first anniversary, it’s already proving a huge success. Brands from around the world have been keen to get involved, ensuring their stands can be used time and again to dramatically cut down their impact on the planet.
So, how does this sustainability scheme work?
Old or broken units, components or point of sale collateral are removed from stores – and rather than heading straight for landfill, we assess whether they can be re-used, refurbished or recycled.
- If an item can be re-used, it goes straight back in to the aftermarket cycle, ready for when it’s needed in store.
- Refurbished items go through electrical testing, cosmetic cleaning and graphic updates, getting them ready to be put back in the loop.
- Items that are at their end of life are carefully recycled. We work closely with a range of recycling partners to make sure everything goes through the correct waste stream.
Paul McCarthy, our Managing Director, said
“Throughout this very challenging year, our aftermarket service has thrived. Reducing the amount of waste that reaches landfill is important to pretty much every company on the planet and is only getting more so. This facility is crucial to our industry to enable the minimisation of waste and breaking the cycle of manufacturing more and more plastic, only serving a couple of years until it reaches landfill.”
In the past year, over 375-tonnes of materials have been reused or recycled rather than being sent to landfill through this scheme. We are in the process of bringing more and more brands on board to take part in this initiative, in line with our sustainability goals. This seems to be the way the retail industry is moving, and the more brands that get involved, the better for the planet.