Directive on Distance Contract(97/7/EC), which stipulates that people who make a purchase via the internet, telephone, fax or mail order can change their minds during a'cooling-off period of seven working days after the goods have been received with no explanation for their return being required. Under this backdrop of increasingly liberal returns policies coupled with a'throw away' consumer culture, the extent to which product returns contribute to increasing waste and recyclate generation needs to be explored. With a variety of centralized and decentralized supply chain mechanisms being employed to service retailers, there is potential scope for coordinating reverse processes to both reduce collective transport impacts and maximize reuse value from the recyclate generated WASTE MANAGEMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF