BRITAIN’S supermarkets have launched a raft of initiatives aimed at reducing excessive packaging and to demonstrate their commitment to plastic recycling.

Instead of holding its overseas Conference 2007, Alphason Designs intends to give extra margin to its loyal customers in summer.

Miele is offering a free set of Dalia cutlery worth £99 with dishwashers from its new range. Retailers will benefit from an eye catching PoS pack featuring the set.

Freeview Playback digital TV recorders set to change viewing habits

NEW hard disk digital TV recorders to be launched under the Freeview Playback branding are going to change TV viewing habits in Britain, Sophie Alexander, head of consumer marketing at Freeview told IER. Freeview TV is already present in over 8.2 million homes in the UK, ahead of any other pay-for TV service.

THE UK Noise Association announces the first endorsement scheme for quiet household appliances. The first products to be awarded the UKNA ssSH mark of approval are dishwashers, washing machines and cooker hoods manufactured by AEGElectrolux.

Valpak Retail WEEE Services has registered over 2,300 retailers, including Argos, Comet, Tesco and ASDA, together with many small independent retailers, making a success of the Distributor Take-back Scheme (DTS) – an industry-wide scheme which will offset requirements to collect used electrical equipment. Over 600 retra members have signed up to the Scheme.

Roberts has appointed Owen Watters as sales director and Gerry Kehoe as field sales manager. Owen will be responsible for overseeing the Independent Sales Team. Gerry Kehoe will now be in charge of all area sales managers.

YOU may have noticed that this issue of IER carries a few items relating to the Electrolux Group which recently held its Global Design product launch at the newly open Wembley Stadium. It is obviously a busy time for the Group which consistently introduces product innovations to the market and advocates new environment-friendly ideas at all platforms.

INTELLIGENT use of space and focus on modern design and ergonomics have driven product development at the Hoover Candy Group, demonstrated at the company's annual Centres for Excellence Conference.

IN the ultra-modern setting of a London penthouse, Bissell launched its latest Floorcare product innovation – the cleaner that does it all. The Proheat All-Rounder is a cleaner that vacuums, washes and dries different floor surfaces.

LG's latest bagless vacuum cleaner collects up to four times more dust than similar cleaners, claims the manufacturer.

The Compressor boasts the world's first motorised dust compression system which reduces the dust into tightly packed cubes in the container. As well as increasing the capacity of the cleaner, this also helps to prevent dust from escaping when the cleaner is emptied.

Neff is re-thinking the cooker hob with its latest product, which features four burners in a row, rather than the conventional front and rear burner layout.

Indesit's latest home laundry offering – the Moon – sports a striking space-age design. The distinctive door of The Moon (SIXL 145) houses a self-cleaning detergent dispenser, while the machine itself is operated using an innovative touch control interface.

The latest in-ear headphones from specialist audio brand Armour Home Electronics brand Goldring, have been designed to match the latest iPod colours.

Expanding its You Are What You Eat range of food preparation appliances, Russell Hobbs has introduced the Premium Smoothie Maker to the collection.

Pioneer has paid particular attention to black level performance with its new range of plasma TVs, and has also unveiled its first Blu-ray player.

Those that hate reading the instruction manual will welcome the latest dishwasher from Electrolux, which will actually talk them through doing the dishes.

Etón has launched its first DAB radio, which doubles as an iPod docking station.

The Etón Sound 102 also features an FM tuner, and an auxiliary input for plugging in an MP3 player, or any other audio source.

“AWARENESS of High Definition is high, but understanding of it is currently low,” said Andy Benson, Sony's commercial director. He went on to explain that although the consumers love the HDTV experience they are still very confused about the technology, its potential and applications.

As the European head of Electrolux, Magnus Yngen has a wide perspective on the European electrical market. Anna Ryland asked for his views on the key issues for the industry.

At its recent Global Design launch in London's Wembley Stadium, Electrolux unveiled its most ambitious and innovative range of freestanding and built-in kitchen appliances to date. Hayley Gilbert reports on the key products.

To assist its leasehold members in their negotiations with landlords, retra has made available practical advice and guidance. Chief Executive of retra's, Mark Hayward, outlines what is available.

The likely boom in construction of new houses, provides substantial sales opportunities in two product areas – dishwashers and waste disposal units – explains Douglas Herbison, Amdea's chief executive.

The modern cook wants many things – the versatility of being able to whip up easy suppers during a busy week and more adventurous meals at the weekend and timesaving features that make cooking and cleaning less of a chore. With this in mind, manufacturers are constantly developing new technologies that give traditional cooking appliances a whole new twist.

Samsung's BT63 FDST dual oven is a single oven that can be turned into a double at the flick of a switch. With this product the user can cook two totally different meals at different temperatures, for different time durations with no transfer of flavours all in the space of a single oven.

As the popularity of induction continues to rise, Falcon has launched the first range cooker with a full induction hob. The Falcon Induction features five powerful cooking zones with power boost, pan and boil dry detection and child lock.

Rangemaster is the first manufacturer to launch a built-in range cooker. Freestyle is designed to offer all the functionality of a range with the clean lines and modern look of a built-in oven. It also has the added benefit of a hob that can be installed anywhere in the kitchen. It offers two large multifunction ovens, large storage drawer and separate five-burner hob with glass warming zone.

Part of the Gallery range from Whirlpool, the AKR804 Evolution cooker hood is a recirculating hood that also works as a lighting accessory and a piece of artwork. In stainless steel, it has three speeds and an intensive option, an extraction rate of 291m3/hr, touch sensitive operation, one halogen lamp and decorative ambient lighting.

The GHI Approved logo not only bestows on a product a seal of approval of the number one consumer testing body in Britain, but guarantees instant consumer interest and sales to follow. This is the first in to a series of articles examining the work of the Good Housekeeping Institute and reporting test results carried on various electrical appliances.

The camcorder market has seen a shift away from tape to non-tape formats, in a similar way to the audio market.

The latest edition to JVC's Everio series of hard disk camcorders, the GZ-HD7 offers 1080i HD recording. With a 60GB built-in hard drive, it boasts up to five hours of HD recording when set to the highest quality mode. Recordings can be archived onto Blu-ray Disc using provided software and a Blu-ray recorder.

This compact and lightweight HD camcorder has an HDMI terminal docking station, allowing users to view video and stills on an HDTV. The HD2 weighs in at just 235g and features a 2.2in LCD screen. It can record video in a 720p resolution, and take 7.1 megapixel high-resolution still images.

This compact camcorder is the smallest and lightest SD High Definition video camera available, says Panasonic. The product provides around one hour of High Definition recording on a 4GB SDHC memory card. What's more, as it uses an SD card, which has no moving parts, the camcorder is particularly resistant to impact.

This new hybrid model from Hitachi combines DVD and HDD capability in one unit, allowing users to archive video footage straight to DVD at the touch of a button, without the need for a PC. The 30GB HDD makes it possible to record over 23 hours of footage.

“With home improvements on the up and walls coming down, the kitchen has succeeded the living room as the showroom of the home. The popularity of either iconic or statement appliances have come to the fore. Few other appliances can satisfy the consumer needs in this respect better than premium sector wine cabinets,” explains Stuart Frost, product marketing manager at Maytag.

THE VHS system, introduced in 1978 and having dominated the home video recording market for a quarter of a century, has now virtually disappeared from shop shelves, replaced by DVD recorders. Its decline – like CRT display TVs – was faster than most people expected, and initially was manufacturer-led rather than by user demand.