Defra Minister Jo Churchill recently confirmed the continuation of the Distributor Take-back Scheme (DTS) phase 6, which will run from 1 Jan 2022 – 31 Dec 2023.

The current DTS runs until 31 December 2021. The terms of which, required retailers with an electrical sales turnover of over £100k per annum to provide in-store take-back from 1 January 2021. The new phase of the DTS maintains that principle thereby ensuring large retailers continue to offer an in-store take-back service to their customers in line with the regulatory requirements. The new phase also allows smaller retailers and internet-only sellers to pay into the DTS scheme rather than take WEEE back directly from the consumer.

Phase 6 criteria remains the same as Phase 5 - businesses eligible for the scheme are online retailers and / or businesses with less than £100,000 sales per annum of new Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). All other businesses must offer a process of WEEE take back.

Registrations will be open in 2022 via this link https://dts.valpak.co.uk/

Please note that any current Phase 5 members will be presumed a DTS member during the short transition period until the end of January.

Valpak and the OPSS have been notified and will start their comms plan immediately to ensure that DTS members are made aware of the continuation.