The British Retail Consortium and leading multiples have stepped up a campaign to amend proposed EU environmental legislation which could cost retailers £500m a year. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive says retailers should be responsible for the eventual disposal of any waste battery operated, and any electric or solar powered item sold though their outlet. But individual EU member states can implement the guidelines, due to come into force in the next two years, in their own way. A spokesman for the BRC said: "The BRC is to lobby the UK government and agree on the continuation of the voluntary take-back operations and alternatives to in-store retail take-back." Asda, Sainsbury, Tesco, the Co-operative Group ­ which all have strong non food sales ­ are among retailers working with the BRC to ensure broken or outdated electrical equipment is not dumped at their stores. One of the options is for retailers to fund local authority recycling points, where customers can drop off anything from old refrigerators to alarm clocks for recycling. Asda said: "We are behind the directive, but we must manage it. We don't want to take back redundant stock on site. We are still costing out the implications of funding local authority schemes." And a spokesman for Sainsbury said: "There are many practical issues tied to this initiative ­ such as planning permission for recycling sites and training staff to handle deposits. "We are still lobbying the EU and government. We advocate retailers to contribute to a joint scheme in relation to units sold." {{NEWS }}