London Co-op partners with tech recirculation firm to collect e-waste

Co-op London has partnered with tech recirculation platform Spring to trial its service at 20 of its stores in Greater London.

Under the scheme, customers are encouraged to bring their old gadgets including smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and e-readers to in-store kiosks. Spring will then assess the condition of the items before facilitating repair or refurbishment before reuse. Items in poor condition may be recycled.

“Co-op is committed to operating at the heart of local life and creating value in our communities – we are working to develop new ways to provide added services and choice, conveniently,” said the retailer’s director of innovation and format, Mark Matthews.

“Our partnership with Spring will make it easy for consumers to recycle or reuse their electronic devices locally and prevent unnecessary waste. Making it easier for consumers to make small changes to their lives, can add up to making a big difference for our environment.”

Co-op has already committed to launching the service at stores in Manchester, Leeds, Brighton, and Birmingham in the future.

As for Spring, the business is aiming to host more than 250 take-back ‘pods’ at UK retail locations within the next 12 months. These facilities should collectively process 100,000 electronic devices. Spring has already processed 150,000 devices by working alone and hopes retail partnerships will make its offering easier to access.