Why it takes two years to become carbon neutral
Every new washing machine manufactured uses at least; 35.7 Kw of electricity, 75.5 litres of water, 2.5 Kg of carbon (does not include the carbon of the energy generation); Plus unrecorded power, water and carbon from the production of parts, packaging, transportation and end of life re-cycling.
Note: These figures are from Bosch / Siemens, a reputable European manufacturer who produced these numbers as part of a claim that they have made 30% savings in environmental damage caused by production in a modern and efficient factory.
Who knows what the figures are for factories in the Far East were such things are not measured
To put this into context were you to replace an old ‘energy gusselling’ washing machine (as the chief execs of some manufacturers are encouraging you to do ) with a modern energy efficient one it would take the average family over two years to claw back the detrimental environmental effect of early replacement.
Some machines don’t last that long.
In a recent consumer survey by GfK it was found that 52% of all washing machines sold in the UK did not last more than seven years. The frightening thing is that the lifespans have been getting shorter year on year.
The WEEE Directive Effects
ISE welcomes the WEEE directive as we belief that manufacturers should be responsible for the cost of re-cycling the material from their appliances when they reach the end of life.
Though we understand the reasons why no government in the European Union has been able to implement to Individual Producer Responsibility which would mean that each manufacturer would have to pay for re-cycling of their own products, it does not give us comfort. ISE have to pay for re-cycling based what we sell in terms of weight rather than paying by what we scrap. Therefore by making robust long lasting machines we are penalised, that’s not fair but that’s the law.
This means that because ISE 10 which has a minimum expected life of 20 years versus average washing machine 6 years and falling (source GfK), weighs almost twice as much as many other brands, under WEEE, ISE pays six times more than the average and twenty times more than the cheap machines many of which weight even less and barely last 2 years. We also have to pay to join producer compliance schemes when we know by serial number where our machines are and, in over one and a half years of trading have not scrapped one machine. Tha t not to say we have not had faults but those which have been transit damaged or had manufacturing faults we could not readily diagnose have been collected and re-conditioned, to date not one has had to be re-cycled.
In contrast we continue to ensure that the redundant machines our agents take back are re-conditioned or re-cycled at our expense, not because we have to but because we believe it is the right thing to do.
We urge to government to work towards IPR as soon as possible but the face a huge resistance from big manufacturers and retailers whose interest is not served by the law supporting long life machines as this would reduce their sales.
Follow us on Twitter