The next time you go shopping for carrots, milk or flour, you can pack the broken kettle, the discarded mobile phone or the toaster in which the slices keep burning in addition to your wallet.

Since Friday, large supermarkets, food discounters and drugstores have had to take back old electrical appliances.

And free of charge, no matter where they were bought, and even if the customer does not want to buy new goods.

This is the new regulation for stores with a total sales area of ​​at least 800 square meters.

"Everyone will start taking back systems on July 1st and make it as easy as possible for customers to return their old electrical appliances," assures Antje Gerstein, Managing Director for Sustainability at the German Retail Association (HDE), the FAZ

Katja Gelinsky

Business correspondent in Berlin

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For a long time, the association had resisted the extension of the take-back obligation.

"Overall, the additional burden is significant for many trading companies," says Gerstein.

"Often, especially in urban locations, there are only small storage areas anyway." The legislator has taken these concerns into account by only having to take back small devices with a maximum length of 25 centimeters.

Incidentally, this also includes electronic “flashing shoes” or illuminated mirrors.

It would have been better to set the limit at 50 centimeters, said Elke Salzmann, resource protection officer at the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv), on request.

“That would be a relief for consumers, since they would then also have been able to dispose of appliances such as microwave ovens and vacuum cleaners.

Anyone who sells can also dispose of scrap

So far, the take-back obligation has only affected large electrical or electronics shops as well as hardware stores and online retailers with a corresponding range.

But at just 11 percent, the trade's contribution to the collection of discarded electronic devices was modest.

Municipalities collect most of the e-waste.

Overall, however, far fewer old electrical appliances are collected than required.

At 44 percent, the quota is well below the legal mark of 65 percent.

Since a large part of the electrical appliances are sold in food stores and drugstores - often as special offers - environmental and consumer advocates agree that it is right to make these companies more responsible.

However, Thomas Fischer, head of the circular economy at Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), has doubts as to whether the markets are making the take-back obligation consumer and environmentally friendly enough.

A survey by the DUH of 13 of the largest supermarkets, discounters and drugstores raised concerns about significant deficits, said Fischer.

At Aldi-Süd, for example, a return at the supermarket checkout is planned.

"Stressful situations are inevitable," he predicts.

Consumer advocate Salzmann from the vzbv would like "that retailers actively provide information about return options".

Inconspicuous labels, like the ones you see on return boxes for batteries, weren't enough.

The HDE says that collection boxes are often set up or the devices are accepted at the information desks.

There are also extra containers for devices that are easily combustible when damaged, such as cell phones or other electronic devices with lithium-ion batteries.

Fischer counters that the DUH survey did not provide any convincing concepts for dealing with the old devices.

"Although we know from experience that around 15 percent of the discarded electronic devices still work or can be repaired, there are apparently no plans to collect them separately." To the knowledge of environmental aid, none of the major disposal companies have a framework agreement to collect the electronic devices from grocery or drugstores.

The environmentalists therefore want to check on site how the take-back is going.