Hypocrisy Ahoy!

Apparently, AMDEA has launched a plan to (they say) deliver a roadmap for sustainable appliances in the UK. As you might expect, we have thoughts.

 From what we can tell, completely unchallenged and we’ve no idea why AMDEA (Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances) has gone to some House of Commons shindig and presented their plans to make appliances more sustainable.

Why, we don’t know.

Who asked for this, we don’t know.

It’s not all bad, of course; there are some valid points being made, including reduction or removal of VAT on spares and repairs that we’ve been calling for, well, forever, well over a decade. But it’s nice to see AMDEA supporting us in that regard.

But a lot of this is next-level hypocrisy in our collective opinion.

For those who don’t know, AMDEA is a collective (some call it a cabal) of appliance manufacturers. It’s like their own exclusive club, where the purpose is to support and promote those members’ interests. The businesses that make and sell appliances, although it also appears to, encompass some brands that don’t make appliances but sell them.

This is to avoid any doubt as to the purpose of AMDEA. And why that basically anything that helps its members shift more boxes is, to them, a good thing. Anything that hampers them shifting more boxes or costs them much, is a bad thing.

Apparently, at this event, AMDEA CEO Paul Hide said: “Modern appliances can reduce the energy and water consumption by up to half of that of older appliances. A more flexible Green Home Grants scheme would go a long way to help householders who need to replace appliances to choose those that can reduce their energy and water bills. The appliance industry continues to innovate to become ever more sustainable and contribute to the circular economy.

“We are keen to work even closer with Government to ensure that householders are incentivised to maximise the lifespan of their current appliances, to support a sustainable circular economy. As well as encouraging them to purchase new appliances that are the most energy and water efficient for their available budget.”

Let’s dissect that a bit shall we?

First off, it’s kinda true that modern appliances use a lot less energy and water. We’d have some reservations about the half number, though, unless you’re looking at machines from the 1960s or 70s. Without any meat on the bones of that claim, it is, for us, a bit iffy at best. Sounds great, but we don’t think it’s holding up to much scrutiny.

Next, grants to buy appliances, why?

Appliances are cheaper today than they have ever been. Why should the government need to offer grants to buy what’s so cheap? Why should taxpayers effectively subsidise appliance manufacturers (virtually none of whom are UK companies) to shift more boxes or higher-margin products?

And, with a lot of the appliances or components coming from China, etc, why should we in the UK be subsidising foreign-owned and foreign-produced stuff that is already likely subsidised in the country of origin?

We are really sorry, but it just makes absolutely no sense for the UK government to entertain it as a plausible thing to do.

As to incentivisation, people are incentivised to use products that use less energy, etc., as they get pushed heavily, and people swallow the marketing that they will save them fortunes, which they usually won’t.

Then repairs, AMDEA’s short version of their plan is:

Incentivise repairs through lower VAT levels and repair grants.

Lower VAT on repair costs to encourage more
consumers to repair rather than replace appliances.
Recent research by the retailer Currys has shown that
consumers are more likely to purchase second-hand
technology (32%) than second-hand clothes (19%).
To encourage this trend which supports the circular
economy as well as providing cost savings to consumers,
AMDEA recommends that Government introduces
incentives to repair or refurbish appliances safely, to
extend the product life or allow more refurbished second
hand products to be made available.

Which is great and contains things we’ve been shouting about for years, but there are a couple of problems here.

First, and this truly is next-level hypocrisy, these are the same manufacturers that have, to reduce their costs, strived to introduce sealed units, bonded door seals, sealed tubs, small parts you can only get with larger expensive units, withheld servicing information, used proprietary software to hamper third-party repairs, produced ludicrously high prices making repairs unviable, and more!

So, on the one hand, they’re saying to the government they need to do things to encourage repair, refurbishment, etc., while on the other hand, they’re doing everything that they can (seemingly) to prevent that from happening or even being remotely viable in many cases.

You really couldn’t make that up!

On reading through the “roadmap” it strikes us that, it’s less of a plan for a circular economy and more one of how manufacturers can screw some money out of the taxpayer’s coffers and/or save themselves cash.

Some (a fair bit) of it, in our opinion, has virtually nothing to do with environmental concerns, sustainability or a circular economy at all. It’s just a wishlist of stuff from manufacturers to feather their own nests in some way or another.

Anyone in government with any kind of sense is going to see through a lot of this in a heartbeat, and if they don’t, then they really should be asking us about it and the troops on the ground having to deal with the realities of repairs, not airy-fairy nonsense.