Report on the remanufacturing of refrigerated display cabinets

©Centre for Remanufacturing & Reuse 2009
1 Introduction
This report has been compiled with the support of The Bond Group (TBG) as a
study of the potential market for remanufactured Refrigerated Display Cabinets
(RDCs) in the UK.
TBG is a keen advocate of remanufacturing and wishes to take a lead amongst
its peers by exposing the case for remanufacturing, financial and environmental;
a view of its potential in the UK; and an assessment of factors that are hindering,
as well as those that could promote its uptake.
Because the majority of this report and its conclusions and recommendations will
be of general benefit to the sector, all aspects of the work have been financed
and conducted with Defra support, acting through the Centre for
Remanufacturing and Reuse (CRR).
The wider scope of work aims to:
Deliver a balanced assessment of the current, potential and future
capacity in the UK to remanufacture RDCs.
Understand the carbon benefit of remanufacturing RDCs.
Identify the barriers to increasing remanufacturing of RDCs.
Propose recommendations to encourage the remanufacture of RDCs.
The audience for this report includes central government officials, RDC
remanufacturers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and retailers or other
users. 1
1.1 What is an RDC
RDCs are devices that enable the sale and storage of chilled and frozen food and
beverage products in a retail environment. They are common to all supermarkets
and convenience stores selling chilled food. They serve two purposes: to ensure
that the produce sold is fresh and to enable the customer to view produce prior to
selection and purchasing, Figure 1.1.
1 For clarity, this document will use the term retailer to encompass all users of bother integral and remote RDCs
including supermarkets, smaller convenience stores, food outlet stores and RDC leasing ventures.
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