At Aldi, Lidl and Co.: Defective electrical appliances can now be disposed of in the supermarket

• From Friday, July 1, supermarkets and discounters such as Aldi, Lidl, Plus and Rewe are obliged to take back and dispose of used electronic devices.
• It doesn’t matter where you bought the devices.
• There are restrictions. For example, particularly small markets in are exempt from the regulation.

You want to dispose of your smartphone professionally? Has the electric razor given up the ghost? The toaster revolts? If repairing doesn’t help, you have to go to a large electronics store or to a recycling center. That will change on Friday, July 1st.

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From this date onwards, you can hand in electronic devices for disposal in normal supermarkets. The new regulation is based on an amendment to the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act, which was passed in 2021 and will apply from Friday. You can find more information about the regulations here at the Federal Environment Agency

If you now have the idea of ​​disposing of your old e-bike in the supermarket, you should note the following restrictions:

• Smaller supermarkets with a sales area of ​​less than 800 square meters are not obliged to take back. But you can do this voluntarily.
• Supermarkets have to stock electrical appliances, no matter what type, several times a year.
• The old devices to be recycled must not exceed an edge length of 25 centimetres.
• If devices exceed these specifications, for example because they are larger, the supermarket or discounter only has to take them back and dispose of them properly if the customer buys a new device of the same type.

Do you see the regulation as a relief? Feel free to discuss this with us on social networks. So-called upcycling is of course better than throwing it away.