Unwanted items are clogging UK roads
UK retailers are spending about£500 million a year to take back unwanted goods from customers.

To add to this logistical problem, UK retailers also need to respond to an EU environmental directive, demanding that big electronic goods are recycled.

In response to these problems, the DTI has commissioned The Efficiency of Reverse Logistics report, which was published last Friday. The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, the Cranfield School of Management and Sheffield Hallam University, co-authors of the report, have found that in most cases only 20 per cent of lorry capacity is used, leading to the clogging of UK roads.