Recently we’ve all seen the calls from the manufacturers and AMDEA, the appliance manufacturer’s trade association, for people to junk their old appliance and buy a new more efficient and “green” one. Thing is though, is that really financially sensible?
We recently looked at fridge freezers and found that, in terms of pure running costs that the difference between the best and worst rated was about £20 a year in electricity cost. Of course when the figures are spun by the marketing people you get claims of 50% or more of a saving.
Now it would appear that local governments are seriously looking at the more detrimental environmental effect, lifespan.
Statistics from GfK show a year on year drop in the lifespan of our appliances and this means that replacement cycles are shorter. This is of course great news for retailers and many manufacturers, not so good for consumers a it costs you more.
And, while we cannot piece together the complete figures, what we have got shows that from one of the most advanced and ecologically friendly plants in Europe, that to get back the cost of a new appliance on energy savings would take more than the appliance would last. In other words, with a lot of machines, especially at the lower end of the market, there’s little point to it.
0800 Repair deals with domestic and commercial repairs and is currently undergoing a period of rapid growth as it looks to add 60 new members of staff to its team of around 100 over the next year.
Managing director Paul Feek, who attended the trip, said: “We went out there to steal a march on the market in the UK. We assess the products coming to the UK and advise the buyers from the supermarkets.
“We decided to do it to try and steal a march on our competitors. We look at the product to see if it’s stable for the market as you’ve got to make sure the product is user friendly.
“Our clients are also keen to learn about issues such as failure rates or products. If the goods don’t fit the bill we can put processes in place to rectify problems and stop these products being returned.”
The problem being of course that early failures and returns, often within the warranty period, cost the supermarkets and sheds a lot of money, so it is a problem they will look to address as much as possible given the price constrains.
But now local governments are actually starting to wake up to the fact that, rather than focussing on the problem of how to get rid of the waste due to poor quality and unrepairable products, that it is much more sensible to prevent the waste in the first place.
The effects of that are that it not only reduces the energy and time in disposal but also in the manufacture of new products. Of course we doubt that most manufacturers, who rely on volume to survive, will be whooping with joy over this thinking.
However, the Scottish Government is looking at this as are many councils around the UK, mostly with backing from the EU.
Maybe the days of cheap appliances that last only a few years, if that, are numbered.