About Us

Welcome to Argos, part of Home Retail Group.

Home Retail Group is the market leader in the home and general merchandise market. More information on Home Retail Group can be found on its corporate website, www.homeretailgroup.com (this is a separate website and will open a new window), including sections on investor relations, media centre, corporate responsibility and careers.

Please read the below to learn about:

• About Argos – A brief introduction to us
• Corporate responsibility (‘Responsible retailing’) – Details of our policy
• Easier shopping for customers – How we make our stores and services accessible to everyone
• Argos and recycling – Our schemes to minimise impact on the environment
• Argos in the community – Details on our charities and projects in the community
• Other areas of Home Retail Group

About Argos

We are a unique multi-channel retailer recognised for choice, value and convenience. We sell general merchandise and products for the home from over 700 stores throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland, online and over the telephone. In the last financial year, our sales were £4.3 billion and we employ some 33,000 people across the business.

We serve over 130 million customers a year through our stores and take 26% of sales through the internet channel alone. Four million customer orders either online or over the phone. On average, 18 million UK households, or around two thirds of the population, have our Argos catalogue at home at any time. We intend to open approximately 20 stores this financial year. This website was the most visited high street retail website in the UK in 2008

Corporate responsibility (‘Responsible retailing’)

Details of our corporate responsibility policy can be found on www.homeretailgroupcr.com

The site includes information on:

• ‘Keeping clean and green’ - how we deal with environmental issues such as waste management and energy consumption
• ‘Shopping for tomorrow’ – we are extending our product range to help you make more responsible choices, conserve resources and save money
• ‘Sourcing with care’ – we provide details of our timber sourcing policy; chemical strategy and ethical trading conditions in our supply chain
• ‘Being a good neighbour’ – how we support the local and national communities in which we operate

These are just some of the practical ways in which we try to be socially, ethically and environmentally responsible.

Check out our range of eco responsible products in our new 'ecohome' range

Easier shopping for customers with disabilities

We're committed to making our stores and services accessible to everyone. If you need any help shopping with us, please give us a call on 0845 640 3030 or ask in store and we'll do everything we can to make things easier.

You can also contact our 'minicom' service on 0845 640 0755 but you will need a text phone to access this service.

We offer an audio CD version of our services, with a selection of our products. Please call 01435 862 737 for a copy of this CD. (This number cannot deal with any other enquiries)

Information on access to facilities at all our stores is available on www.directenquiries.com.

Argos and recycling

Catalogues

With your help, we’re reducing the impact our business has on the environment.

Did you know:

• your Argos catalogue is 100% recyclable
• we source the paper from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources
• our old catalogues are particularly sought after by newspaper print manufacturers

All our catalogues and flyers can be recycled, at any of the following places

• Our stores - your nearest store will be happy to recycle the catalogues for you
• Local authority collections - If your local authority provides you with newspaper collection services then they can take away our old catalogues
• Local recycling points – if these are more convenient, take your catalogue to your nearest collection point - find your nearest recycling centre by visiting www.recyclenow.com

So when you're ready to pick up your new catalogue, please try and recycle your old one.

* Certified by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC). For more info contact: www.pefc.org (this is a separate website and will open a new window)

Waste packaging

Most waste packaging can be recycled. If you require, we will take away your waste packaging when we delivery your new large kitchen appliance. Visit www.recyclenow.com to find lots of tips on what to do with waste packaging. Cardboard boxes are easy to squash flat and recycle!

Carrier bags

At Argos we’re committed to helping the environment so although we are happy to provide a plastic carrier bag if you request one, please play your part by helping us cut our carrier bag usage by 50%. Reuse our carrier bags as often as possible and when you’ve finished with them, look out for a local recycling scheme or dispose of them safely so that they don't cause a litter problem.

Furniture

If you have an item of furniture that you no longer need following your purchase from Argos, there is a charity near you that can put it to good use. Local charities take unwanted furniture and make it available for people on low incomes. A national helpline is run by the Furniture Re-use Network or you can look for groups on the internet. Website: www.frn.org.uk (this is a separate website and will open a new window).

Disposal of electrical waste products

Argos will collect and recycle your old large kitchen appliance or selected TVs when you buy a new one – just ask our contact centre colleagues at the time of ordering. For all other electrical items, Argos has contributed towards a national fund to assist local councils to improve their existing waste electrical equipment collection facilities. You can take all your other waste electrical goods for recycling to your local council site (and avoid damaging the environment and the potential harmful effects on health).

Look out for the crossed out wheelie bin symbol on electrical goods. The symbol means that you should not put this item in your normal household waste bin.

Not all council sites are suitable to collect all types of waste electrical goods, but to find out your nearest participating site, please visit www.recycle-more.co.uk (Argos.co.uk is not responsible for the content of external websites).

Batteires

Waste batteries can be returned to our stores free of charge, using the small waste battery bins in store. Batteries should never be put in general household waste or recycling bins - look out for the crossed out wheelie bin symbol on the packaging or the battery itself.

Mobile phone recycling – in conjunction with 'Envirofone'

Envirofone is the UK's first mobile phone recycling website that pays you for your old working mobile phone.

In the next 12 months, over 15 million old mobiles will be upgraded with many of the old ones being thrown away. Some could be worth over £100 - would you throw that much money in the bin?

To trade in yours visit: http://www.envirofone.com

Inkjet printer cartridge recycling – in conjunction with 'The Recycling Factory'

Did you know – over 350 million cartridges are thrown away each year adding to the ever growing environmental problems facing us today.

The Recycling Factory collect and recycle empty ink cartridges, making saving the environment even easier. For every inkjet cartridge that can be successfully recycled, The Recycling Factory will make a donation to the British Heart Foundation.

How? To recycle your inkjet cartridges please collect a freepost envelope from your local store, place your empty cartridge inside the envelope and return in the post (free of charge).

Why? This means you can help protect the environment and make a difference to a worthwhile charity.

For further information or to request envelopes from The Recycling Factory please contact them on argos@trf-uk.com

Argos in the community

Argos is proud to be supporting the British Heart Foundation until July 2010 as part of the ‘Keeping hearts beating’ campaign. They were chosen by an overwhelming majority of employees by a staff vote from a short list of charities.

The British Heart Foundation: Are the nation’s heart charity, dedicated to saving lives every day through pioneering research, caring for patients and families, campaigning for change and providing vital information to help people care for their own heart health.

The vision: A world in which people do not die prematurely of heart disease.

Supporting the vision: Argos colleagues and customers are raising money to fund vital defibrillators in the community that can help save lives. The British Heart Foundation relies on the generosity of people like you to continue their vital work

You can help in the following ways:

• Fundraising: Look out for fundraising activities in your local Argos store
• In store donation: Make a donation to the British Heart Foundation, simply tick the box on the selection slip when buying in-store, 20p will be added to your total.
• Online donation: you can make a donation on-line now, please use the donate button*.

For more information about the British Heart Foundation please visit bhf.org.uk*

*(this is a separate website and will open a new window)

Charitable Policy

Argos supports many long term projects across the UK and ROI, working with many different kinds of charitable and not for profit organisations.

We have taken this approach because we believe that the best way for us to help to make a real and lasting difference to the community projects and causes that we support is for us to work in partnership with them on approved projects. This approach enables us to get the maximum benefit from our support and to provide an enduring legacy for those projects.

Our policy therefore is not to support general requests for donations for either vouchers or gifts in kind.

If you would like a full explanation of our policies or to read more about some of the major projects we have been able to support, further details are available in our group's Corporate Responsibility Report (this is a separate website and will open a new window).

Other areas of Home Retail Group

Homebase

As part of the Home Retail Group, our sister company Homebase offers a large range of kitchens, bathrooms and home furniture. Homebase also provides DIY advice and how-to guides across a broad range of home enhancement and DIY categories.