About us

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Company Overview

We are a focused and dedicated consumer electronics company. Our operations span across the world, exporting stock internationally on a daily basis.

We provide bespoke services to major network operators, OEM manufacturers, retail groups/consortiums, distributors, corporations and both small & large businesses.

With over 17 years behind us, we have built a solid reputation of trust, integrity and adaptability. With our strict quality control guidelines and procedures we deliver outstanding products and services, resulting in one of the industry’s lowest return rates. Our pricing structures are individually designed to allow our partners to maximise margins and reduce costs. We believe in building long term relationships for mutual profitability.

Our team is comprised of talented individuals, each bringing us a wealth of varied experience, together with our management who have been a part of the mobile telecommunications industry since its inception in the 1980’s.

From our home in the centre of the UK we encompass all of our services, from housing large volumes of stock within our own 30,000sq ft of warehousing, to processing and distribution of consumer electronics all from one place, we even have a public facing store front!

As a testament to our business strategy, over time we have grown to provide many different services, making us different from just another buyer and seller of products. We believe in being open minded to our clients requirements, and can now offer various services based on a wealth of experience. Please click “What We Do” to find out more.

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Company History

ECD Ltd  has a long and storied history in the world of electronic repair and distribution. We have been pioneers in the industry for many years and are known for taking innovative steps. We are very proud of our achievements and all the people who led us here.

  • 1999

    EURO COMMUNICATION DISTRIBUTION LIMITED IS INCORPORATED

    ECD Ltd was incorporated by Mr Steven Athwal, a serial entrepreneur with varied business interests who acquired a small warehousing and workshop facility and employed five members of staff. Steven had been in the industry since the 1980's and in 1995, he sold his small chain of independent retail mobile phone shops to concentrate fully on the wholesale B2B sector of the market.
    The business aim at that time was to take advantage of the pricing differences between countries on certain products. ECD started as a trading company buying stock mainly from Spain and selling it onto the larger UK dealers. These European phones needed reconfiguration to the software to enable them to be used in the UK and Steven's previous experience and technical knowledge proved to be invaluable.

  • 2000

    ECD LAUNCHES SERVICE CENTRE

    ECD continued to receive enquiries for reconfiguration services and repairs from the small portfolio of contacts that Steven had built up over the years. These enquires snowballed and additional staff was taken on to ease the ever increasing work load. The decision was then taken to offer our services to the local population and in 2000 the doors were opened to our then small 2000 sq ft workshop. There were no other repair companies of this type in the local area and the decision to open to the public became an overnight success.

  • 2002

    RELATIONSHIPS FORMED WITH MAJOR NETWORK OPERATORS - ECD UPGRADED TO LEVEL 2 REPAIR STATUS

    During 2002 ECD successfully managed to be accepted by many of Europe's major mobile phone networks and operators as a reliable and trustworthy buyer of excess inventory. Steven and his team built up a worldwide network of buyers who would purchase this unwanted inventory.
    The repair side of the business was carrying out ever more complex repairs and as such ECD was upgraded by Nokia to a Level 2 service centre.

  • 2003

    RECYCLING SERVICES INTRODUCED

    ECD's customers and suppliers created huge amounts of waste and many were looking for environmentally friendly and ethical disposal channels. Many companies offered these services at the time but ECD was able to reuse and process the waste in such a way that created an income source for the providers and thereby effectively transforming waste disposal expenses into new revenue streams.

  • 2004

    REFURBISHMENT SERVICE INTRODUCED

    ECD's customers and suppliers created huge amounts of waste and many were looking for environmentally friendly and ethical disposal channels. Many companies offered these services at the time but ECD was able to reuse and process the waste in such a way that created an income source for the providers and thereby effectively transforming waste disposal expenses into new revenue streams.

  • 2005

    NEW WAREHOUSING SPACE ACQUIRED

    ECD had outgrown their premises and additional warehousing and workshop space was acquired to cope with the steady growth. Warehousing, offices and the workshop were split and located in different locations.

  • 2006

    ECD BECOMES AN AUTHORISED SAMSUNG SERVICE POINT

    ECD becomes an authorized Level 2 Samsung Service point.

  • 2010

    EXPANDED INTO ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTS

    In 2010 due to requests from our partners the decision was taken to offer our services to other consumer electronic products, such as computers, servers, tablet PCs, gaming consoles and much more.

  • 2011

    NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED - ISO PROCEDURES INTRODUCED - APPROVED AUTHORISED TREATMENT FACILITY

    ECD had always kept a low profile and conducted business with an established customer base. With the introduction of new products and operating in an increasingly more competitive marketplace a corporate website was launched to showcase the services and products offered.
    ISO procedures were introduced to ensure our standards of service were maintained regardless of the volumes of products bring processed. ECD's environmental accreditation is being upgraded to an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility specialising in WEEE waste.

  • 2012

    INSURANCE WORK INCREASES

    The number of insurance companies for whom we do repair, refurbishment and fulfilment work dramatically increased. We are proud that in 2012 we saw 8 new major insurance companies utilising our services. To cope with this demand, we increased staff to a head count of 58 and our workshop size was doubled. We also constructed a purpose built clean room. We now repair on average 5000 units per month.
    Sales team on the international trading side of the business doubled in size and 5 new online sites were opened.

  • 2013

    Environmental Focus

    We installed solar panels, energy efficient lighting, rainwater harvesting, and our own composting and recycling systems and incentives.

  • 2014

    Experienced Massive Interest ...

    Massive interest from partners within European countries, so we adapted by removing the language barrier, employing native speakers to handle these accounts.

    2016- this year we have already seen the most growth in our history, and as a result of this rapid expansion are on an acquisition trail and have many more exciting plans for the future!

  • 2016

    Record Growth

    This year we have already seen the most growth in our history, and as a result of this rapid expansion are on an acquisition trail and have many more exciting plans for the future!

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What makes us different

ECD believes actions are greater than words. There are many recycling companies, but unlike us very few operate their premises to such high environmentally friendly standards.

Our entire premises are installed with intelligent energy efficient lighting which is only automatically operated as and when needed. We now have solar panels to cater for our entire energy demands and all our WC facilities are supplied by our own rain water harvesting systems.

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Our Values

We are Environmentally Friendly
We Invest In People
We Build Strong Partner Relationships
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Certifications

COMPANIES HOUSE

Company certificate of incorporation

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HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS

Company Certificate of Incorporation

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INFORMATION COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE

Company Certificate of Incorporation

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AVIVA

Certificate of employers’ liability insurance

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BLACK COUNTRY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MEMBER

ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION

ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY

Storage of waste in a secure place

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ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY

Secure storage of WEEE

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ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY

Preparatory treatments of certain wastes including WEEE

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ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY

Waste carriers licence

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ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY

Approved authorised treatment facility (AATF)

ISO CERTIFICATION

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION

14001 (Environmental Management)

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION

9001 (Quality Management)

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION

27001 (Security Standard)

charities

Charities we support

cancerresearch

CANCER RESEARCH UK

Cancer Research UK is the UK's number one cancer research and awareness charity with over 44,500 people regularly volunteering. As the largest independent cancer research charity, it steers research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Cancer Research UK's endeavours are entirely funded by the public. It raises money through charitable donations, legacies, fundraising, community events, retail and corporate partnerships.
comptonhospice

COMPTON HOSPICE

Compton Hall was built in the early 19th century and is set in four-and-a-half acres of woodland and gardens. During World War 2, evacuees were housed in the hall for protection. After the war, Local Councillor Stephen Morton and others, petitioned for Compton Hall to be converted into a care home for the terminally ill. With the help of numerous local and national organisations, nearly £500,000 was raised, enabling the hall to be converted into a care home. Compton Hall officially became Compton Hospice on 9th November 1982. Compton Hospice' services are available free-of-charge to an area of 1.3 million people including Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Dudley, South Staffordshire, Walsall and East Shropshire. In recent times more emphasis has been placed upon home care nursing, allowing the support and treatment of more than 500 people each day a possibility.
NSPCC

NSPCC

Founded in 1884, The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a UK based charity campaigning and working for child protection. With over 17,000 volunteers and £157.5 million revenue, the NSPCC is the largest child protection charity in the UK. The NSPCC is the only UK charity which has been granted statutory powers from parliament, allowing it to apply for care and supervision orders for children at risk. The NSPCC lobbies the current administration on issues relating to child welfare and safety. It also operates both the NSPCC Helpline and ChildLine offering support to children.
wwf

WORLD WIDE FUND FOR NATURE

WWF's current conservation mission is restoring the populations of 36 species (including elephants, tunas, whales and dolphins), conserving key regions around the world (the Arctic and the Amazon rainforest for example), and reducing human environmental footprint in 6 crucial areas; carbon emissions, cropland, grazing land, fishing, water and forestry.
AmnestyInternational

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Amnesty International is an international organisation commonly referred to as Amnesty or AI. It is a non-government organisation whose mission statement is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated".<br /> Amnesty International mainly targets governments, but also reports on non-governmental bodies and private individuals. There are six key areas which Amnesty deals with: Women's, children's, minorities' and indigenous rights, ending torture,abolition of the death penalty,rights of refugees,rights of prisoners of conscience and protection of human dignity.
ChristianAid

CHRISTIAN AID

Christian Aid is the official relief & development agency of 40 British & Irish Protestant churches & works to support sustainable development, alleviate poverty, support civil society & provide catastrophe relief in South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa & Asia. Christian Aid campaigns to change the rules & systems that keep people poor, speaking out on issues such as Climate Change, & Third World debt. Christian Aid has fought poverty for over 65 years.
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Environmental Policy

ECD is a dedicated electronic waste solutions provider. We recognise our responsibility to minimise the impact on the environment and to help safeguard our world for future generations. Our core ethos and beliefs focus around reuse and recycle with the aim to send minimal waste to land fill sites.

It is our policy to

  • Constantly improve the effectiveness of our environmental management system.
  • Fully comply with European Environmental Legislation, including the WEEE Directive
  • Prevent pollution for ourselves and our partners.
  • Provide appropriate environmental training for our employees.
  • Ensure all our activities have as little environmental impact as possible. Ensuring we reuse and recycle materials wherever possible.
  • Take an active role in ensuring that we are up to date with our industry’s latest developments.
  • Give priority to used over new for plant or equipment that we may be considering purchasing.
  • Operate a simple and effective environmental management system compliant with ISO14001.
  • Identify areas within our business that we can control and influence in order to continually improve our environmental performance to reduce our carbon footprint.
  • Comply with all applicable legal requirements and any other directives that exist whilst ensuring at the same time that our customers legal obligations are met.
  • Ensure the safe and legal transportation of electronic waste throughout Europe via our network of licenced carriers.
  • Use only licenced partners to facilitate the disposal of any residual materials
  • Review our environmental policy on an annual basis.
To support and practise our environmental policy along with our core beliefs we have strived to ensure that as much as possible all plant and equipment within our premises has been procured from other companies discarded waste. Examples include desks, chairs, IT equipment, carpet tiles, warehouse racking, work benches, reception furniture and much more.Constantly striving to reduce our carbon footprint

We do not believe in buying brand new cardboard packaging with our logos all over it when we can recycle incoming cardboard packaging. Minimum amounts of our own waste are sent to landfill as we aim to reuse as much of our own waste as possible, packaging from incoming packages and parcels are reused to protect outgoing parcels. Yes Company image is important but not at the cost of the environment especially for an environmentally aware recycling company.

Employees are actively encouraged to cycle to work and we provide a company scheme to help purchase bikes and associated accessories. Car share is also promoted by us and many of our employees participate in these environmentally friendly ways of getting to work.

Our entire premises are installed with intelligent energy efficient lighting which is only automatically operated as and when needed. We are in the process of installing solar panels to cater for our entire energy demands and all our WC facilities will be supplied by our own rain water harvesting systems.

ECD believes “actions are greater than words”. There are many recycling companies, but unlike us very few operate their premises constantly in an environmentally friendly way as we do.

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