1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208 
Profit potential for live wires
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
An EU Directive on electronic waste will come into effect later this
year — and it could be good news for logistics specialists.
Logistics firm VVineanton has moved into a new niche with the opening of a state-of-the-art Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEE) recycling plant. The company has invested £4.5m in this high-tech plant, which is the first of its kind in the country.
Capable of processing up to 75,000 tonnes per year -the equivalent of 826,500 washing machines or 67 million kettles-the machinery takes waste electronic and electrical items back to the basic material suitable for recycling, in line with the requirements of the EUS VVEEE Directive.
This Directive, which comes into effect this year, will make businesses responsible for the correct disposal of any electrical or electronic equipment they manufacture, import or sell to consumers. The legislation is designed to cut the amount of recyclable material ending up in landfills and incinerators. Instead of simply consigning their unwanted equipment onto land ills, consumers will be able to return it to the retailers, which will then become responsible for its recycling. Returns are already considered an inconvenient fact of life for retailers, even before the WEE Directive comes into force, The 'polluter pays principle will impose an increasing burden on manufacturers and retailers, which will be forced to organise formal recycling strategies.
On the positive side, putting a proper reverse logistics strategy in place can benefit a company's operational efficiency by reducing waste and establishing appropriate channels for unsold or returned products. This will still incur costs but it will also present significant opportunities to companies with reverse logistics capabilities as manufacturers look to outsource this non-core activity.
Recent estimates by Datamonitor put the value of the UK reverse logistics market at over 2400m. Wincanton's latest investment will put the company in the right place to take an increasing share of this lucrative sector.