Currys boss Alex Baldock has called on the government to slash VAT on refurbished electrical products to keep them out of landfills.
The chief executive told The Guardian: “It has already been charged once on these products. I would like to see a radical reduction or entire cut on these products.”
His comments come as the electricals giant is aiming to increase its repair and resale operations.
The retailer offers video calls to customers to problem-solve often basic problems with their gadgets that can most likely be fixed by pressing reset or reloading software, for example.
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Baldock said about 70% of returned laptops have no fault – the problem is often software-based – while 30% to 40% of TVs returned are found to be in full working order.
A team of experts based at Currys’ repair centre in Newark, Nottinghamshire, have been fixing web-enabled devices such as TVs via video calls for some time and is experimenting solving problems on fridges and ovens using the live stream.
Making the process of repairing and selling refurbished items easier would help the retailer to reduce the 8.1m defunct used electrical goods sent off for recycling to external partner Environcom.
Baldock added that he hopes the new government will “take a different stance” on the Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging (EPR) scheme, which is due to come into force in 2026 and means Currys will no longer be able to charge to collect customers’ used white goods or TVs over 44”.
He said that recycling is expensive and if that cost cannot be passed on to customers, then retailers will do less of it.
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