Retailers would be misguided not to get behind the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and the opportunities it presents in persuading customers to return to a store with their empty bottles and cans.
This was the message from Simon Burnett, head of sales for retail and systems at TSG Solutions, speaking last week at the Petrol Retailers Association’s Business Breakout at Brands Hatch.
While certain sites will be exempt from acting as a DRS collection point when the initiative goes live across the UK in October next year, those who do not offer a manual handling or reverse vending machine service, or hybrid between the two, will be losing out, he maintained.
“Because if you’re exempt, you’re sending your customers to your competition, to get their 20p back if the deposit for the bottles and cans cannot be redeemed at your shop,” he said.
Retailers should also consider installing machines as early as possible to encourage customer loyalty – and, ahead of the scheme coming into effect, donate the money that would be handed back to them to charity.
“Though you may think ‘I don’t want to do it, it will cost too much money and be too much hassle’, you should be asking yourself the question ’can I afford not to do it?’,” he said, adding that everyone should prepare for the new regime by ordering machines now and deciding where to put them.
Some of the expense in purchasing the equipment can be offset with a £6,000 government grant per site and offering advertising on the equipment.
TSG Solutions is supplying what it calls an entry level hybrid recycling option that collects plastic bottles and cans in a bag without crushing them, on the market for around £6,000. The Trovr Qube, which identifies eligible containers by reading their QR codes, provides a refund to the customer as a printed voucher or on an app linked to the machine.
The Trovr app also allows retailers to offer returning customers loyalty rewards, and to monitor how close the machine is getting to its 300-item limit.
Unlike larger reverse vending machines, the 0.4m2 footprint of its unit means that it can be mounted on top of a wheelie bin, or a Qube cabinet.
Burnett told delegates that the best place to site the units is next to drinks displays, rather than near the entrance or checkout where queues to use them could become a problem.
Like other machines on the market, TSG’s can go outside under a canopy. But, warned Burnett, as an electrical item it should not be placed within one metre of the longest part of a fuel hose. ”If you’re thinking about putting it outside, talk to the petroleum officer,” he said.
