Kitchen Appliances how to dispose of them safely RSS News Feed

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How do we safely dispose of our old appliances? Perhaps the answer lies in the past.

As the government has now delayed the implementation of the major EU directive on the disposal of electrical goods until next July, perhaps it is time that we finally dealt with the issue once and for all. The controversial EU waste, electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) directive was originally due to come into force in the UK this month. The ruling puts the responsibility of disposing of any electrical goods - from washing machines to electrical toothbrushes - on retailers and producers. If we look in to our past we may find a solution to a modern day problem. Steve Davis reports.

It is clear from recent world events in Asia and America, that the climate is changing, fast. Most experts agree that there is now an urgency to try and reduce the amount of pollution the human race generate. The failure to implement the new EU directive is yet another indication of the apathy of most world governments. The non-safe disposal of our old electrical appliances accounts for a large percentage of pollutants being released in the environment. Most appliances have large amounts of toxic substances, yet they are often simply tipped in to land fill sites to pollute the earth for years to come.

A New Dishwasher but where does it go when you are finished with it?

The problem is exasperated by the low cost of most electrical items, after all who wants to repair a microwave or DVD player which only cost £29.99 in the first place. Generally when an item like this breaks down it is flung in the dustbin and carted off to landfill. The European directive (weee) aimed to try and force manufacturers and retailers in to collecting or allowing consumers to return these old appliances. But there are huge logistical and costing problems involved with such an undertaking. However, there is another way. I remember when I was a young boy that shops used to charge a deposit on most of the glass bottles. When I had no money I would go around collecting any old empty lemonade and beer bottles, so I could return them and pocket the deposit. Well why can we not enable a similar system on all new electrical appliances? At the point of sale a retailer could add a certain percentage to the cost of the appliance. This money would be pooled in a large deposit fund held by government which would build up in the initial period as most appliances last approximately 5-7 years. When an item is at the end of its life either the supplier can collect it when the new appliance is delivered, or the consumer can take it back to the store. The consumer would then be able to collect the deposit which was paid when the item was originally purchased.

The interest earned by the deposit fund should cover a lot of the cost in administrating the deposit scheme, so to a large extent it would be self funding. Instead of old fridges being dumped on street corners by fly tippers, there would be a genuine incentive for goods to be taken to an authorised collection point. But there is no magic cure and there is no doubt that any scheme which forces manufacturers to dispose of old appliances in an environmentally safe way will increase the cost of all new appliances. So all of us will have to pay more at some point as the cost of any scheme will inevitably be paid for by the consumer. But a deposit scheme does seem to be the fairest way, in fact there is no reason why a deposit scheme could not be applied to lots of other areas, like cars or glass bottles even newspapers. Also proper consideration should be given to schemes where goods are re-conditioned to allow them to be re-used, as this is even more environmentally friendly. For example Haringey council have just launched a 3 year pilot scheme to collect old appliances which reuses, recycles or re-conditions them (find out more here) in a bid to meet their recycling target of 18% for 2005/6.

If you feel that the deposit scheme is one which you would like to see implemented, or you have a better idea, why not contact your local MP and ask he/she to take up the cause. If you would like to contact your MP with a proposal click here


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