Home Retail Group signs up to industry agreement

25 September 2009

The UK's leading home and general merchandiser Home Retail Group is proud to have signed up to the WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) Home Improvement Sector Agreement.

The launch of the voluntary sector agreement calls for industry to reduce packaging and waste to landfill. Yesterday Homebase and Argos committed to reduce packaging by 15% and waste to landfill by 50% by 2012 from the 2007 base levels.

Maria Thompson, Home Retail Group commercial director said: “Home Retail Group is delighted to be a signatory to the Home Improvement Sector Commitment. We believe that there are clear benefits to the environment, the business and our customers by making use of reusable and recyclable packaging and from reducing the amount of packaging associated with the products we sell. We have already implemented many changes to our packaging. These changes, along with the shared sectoral ambition to reduce the environmental impact of packaging generally, will help achieve the targets announced yesterday.”

Home Retail Group through its leading brands Argos and Homebase has pledged to reduce packaging on all its own label and direct import products. The overall performance will be reported to WRAP on an annual basis.

They also offer customers the facility to recycle more waste by providing a take back of packaging from large domestic appliances which are delivered. Other initiatives already offered in stores include Inkjet recycling, Brita water filter recycling, the take back of Argos catalogues for recycling and battery recycling schemes.