Read the letter here.

AMDEA CEO, Stefan Hay says: ‘E&S Solutions is a very welcome addition to our Associate Member Group  (AMG), which continues to grow to include companies involved in the provision of training, insurance and warranty schemes, servicing, repair, recovery, refurbishment, reuse, recycling, and end of life disposal under the wider membership umbrella.  E&S Services’  mission to ‘improve product lifespan and maintain brand reputation whilst meeting environmental goals’ perfectly aligns with AMDEA’s values, recently demonstrated by our Repair Before Replace campaign.  We look forward to E&S ‘s contribution to our ongoing discussions on how the whole appliance value chain can enhance its support of the circular economy’.

Blake Green, CEO of E&S Solutions adds: We’re delighted to join AMDEA’s Associate Member Group. At E&S, we believe great aftersales means protecting a manufacturer’s brand, caring for its customers and keeping products in use for longer. Our Repair, Refurbish, Recycle approach brings together returns management, technical expertise and product recovery to help manufacturers and retailers retain value and reduce waste.

“Joining AMDEA gives us an opportunity to share that practical experience and work alongside its members to advance the circular economy. We look forward to supporting Repair Before Replace and helping make repair and refurbishment an accessible, trusted choice for more businesses and consumers.”

The UK’s fridge and freezer recycling backlog cannot be resolved simply by increasing costs for appliance manufacturers, according to the UK Home Appliance Association (AMDEA), which is calling for a coordinated national plan to restore specialist treatment capacity and strengthen the resilience of the entire recycling system.

The trade association, which represents the UK’s home appliance industry, says manufacturers remain committed to meeting their producer responsibility obligations and supporting safe, environmentally sound recycling. However, it warns that additional charges alone cannot overcome the infrastructure constraints at the heart of the current disruption.

With local authorities, producer compliance schemes and recycling operators facing significant operational pressures, AMDEA believes the priority must be to maintain collections, manage the backlog safely and establish a credible route towards additional treatment capacity.

Stefan Hay, CEO of AMDEA, said: “The fridge recycling backlog is a serious issue, and we recognise the pressure it is placing on councils, compliance schemes, recyclers and householders. Appliance manufacturers already finance their statutory responsibilities under the WEEE system and will continue to play their part. But we must distinguish between funding the recycling system and ensuring the physical infrastructure exists to process the appliances being collected.”

“A national shortage of specialist treatment capacity cannot be fixed simply by adding open-ended costs to manufacturers. Higher charges do not automatically deliver new treatment facilities, secure permits or create the contingency arrangements needed to prevent future disruption. While appliance manufacturers accept the need to finance the responsible management of products at the end of their useful lives, the current system does not consistently provide the commercial certainty, investment incentives or end-market demand needed to develop sustainable UK recycling and material recovery capacity.”

“What we need is a coherent, industry-wide plan that tackles the immediate backlog while encouraging investment in the additional capacity and resilience the UK needs. Government should work with producers, compliance schemes, recyclers and local authorities to reform the incentives, strengthen enforcement, support investment where genuine market failures exist and stimulate demand for recovered materials. The objective must be a system that delivers safe and effective recycling, secures the UK’s access to valuable secondary raw materials and provides a fair, transparent and economically sustainable allocation of costs.”

Under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations, producers placing more than five tonnes of electrical and electronic equipment on the UK market must join a producer compliance scheme.

Through these schemes, manufacturers finance the collection, treatment, recovery and environmentally sound disposal of household electrical waste, including cooling appliances. Producer compliance schemes are responsible for arranging the necessary collections and treatment, including the clearance of cooling appliances from local authority sites, but producers cannot indefinitely absorb rising compliance costs without consequences for investment, competitiveness and consumers. Equally, recyclers cannot be expected to invest in specialist infrastructure without confidence that sufficient material will be available and that the costs of processing it can be recovered.

AMDEA stresses that producers are already integral to the recycling system, rather than standing outside it and that they support the creation of a market in which responsible recycling is properly funded, recovered materials have dependable outlets and efficient businesses have a credible reason to invest.

The association acknowledges that exceptional circumstances can generate legitimate additional expenditure, including temporary storage, handling, transport and potentially lawful export for treatment. However, it believes any additional costs must be transparent, proportionate, properly evidenced and directly connected to effective operational measures.

Stefan continued: “Producers are not seeking to avoid their responsibilities. We recognise that maintaining collections during the current shortage can involve genuine additional costs. These should be transparent, proportionate, properly evidenced and directly linked to effective operational measures.

“But there must be accountability for what those payments deliver. Simply transferring increasing costs to manufacturers without addressing the underlying capacity shortage is neither a sustainable solution nor an effective way to improve recycling outcomes.”

Government, regulators and the recycling industry are already pursuing measures to manage the immediate pressures, including temporary storage arrangements and work to support additional treatment capacity. AMDEA supports these initiatives where they are safe, properly controlled and evidence-based, but believes they must now form part of a coherent recovery and resilience plan.

And 22 per cent owned up to replacing their large household appliances, such as a washing machine or dryer, at the first sign of trouble rather than trying to fix them. While 56 per cent of those admitted the last item they replaced may have been repairable, despite 54 per cent of all participants agreeing they have needed to scrimp and save over the past three years due to the cost-of-living crisis

The research was commissioned by the UK’s trade association for home appliances, AMDEA.

Commenting on the findings, consumer journalist Alice Beer said: “It’s clear from the research that when something goes wrong, replacing an appliance is often the default position. But what many people may not realise is that repairs by a good engineer are often much simpler and more affordable than they expect, so it can pay to pause before you replace. Simple habits can also make a real difference too. Spending a few minutes cleaning filters and carrying out routine maintenance checks, for example, can help keep appliances working well, reduce the risk of faults and potentially add years to their lifespan. We know household budgets are under pressure so every saving counts. That’s why, when something goes wrong, my advice is simple – think repair first. The reality is that a small, quick fix could save you money and help your appliance go further.”

The research also found people have spent an average of £399 replacing items which have had issues over the past three years.

Meanwhile, when a household appliance develops a problem, only 11 per cent contact a repair engineer as a first point of call.

And 66 per cent have considered replacing a large household appliance at the first sign of trouble rather than investigating whether it could be repaired.

The most replaced items without checking for repairs were washing machines, microwaves and fridge freezers.

The biggest concerns around arranging a repair were the potential costs (49 per cent), the appliance being too old (32 per cent) and worries the repair won’t last (29 per cent).

While 33 per cent would be frustrated if they discovered they spent money on an unnecessary replacement, with 21 per cent determined to make sure they don’t do that again.

And 24 per cent are not confident they know whether their large household appliances are covered by warranty or not, according to figures from OnePoll.com.

Experiences from those who have had repairs were generally positive – 47 per cent said the engineer was reliable, 40 per cent had years of extra use thanks to it, and 33 per cent said it was easy to arrange.

Stefan Hay, CEO for AMDEA added: “Too many consumers are writing off appliances before understanding what the problem is or whether a repair is possible. Our findings show that concerns around cost and convenience are often driving replacement decisions, but repairs are frequently more straightforward and affordable than people expect. We’d encourage anyone experiencing an issue with a household appliance to check their warranty status and explore repair options before replacing it. A simple repair can often add years to an appliance’s lifespan, saving money and reducing unnecessary waste at the same time.”

For help and advice on expert repairs visit:  amdea.org.uk/repairs

Appliance producers meet their obligations under the WEEE Regulations through membership of Producer Compliance Schemes, which arrange for WEEE to be collected and delivered to approved treatment facilities on producers’ behalf. The costs borne by producers through these arrangements help finance the collection, treatment, recovery and recycling of household WEEE, including appliances collected at local authority designated collection facilities, which accounts for about 50% of fridge recycling,  the other 50% of fridges are recycled by appliance producers and retailers.  According to official Defra data, 70,000 tons of fridges have been responsibly recycled in the UK so far this year.   Companies like the Appliance Recycling Group will also collect an old fridge from your home.  They’ll check if it’s suitable for reuse and if it is they will refurbish it and find it a new home.  If it isn’t, they ensure it’s responsibly recycled.  They can be found at http://collectmyelectricals.co.uk/.  Retailer AO will also collect a fridge and recycle it for a fee even if you have not purchased a new one with them.   We urge consumers to seek reputable companies if they need a fridge to be recycled to avoid fridges being dumped.

We understand that the situation has started to ease a little in some areas as additional treatment and storage capacity becomes available,  with further specialist facilities due to open over the next couple of years, and that there is currently spare fridge treatment capacity in Europe, so it is possible that some of the backlog of fridges needing to be recycled will be sent to approved specialist plants abroad.

In terms of new specialist recycling plants in the UK,  GAP in the North East opened a new fridge treatment plant in Scotland last year.  It’s state of the art and uses renewable energy to power it. Enva plans to open a new fridge treatment plan in Dartford in 2027.  These investments are only possible because of the money producers and their compliance schemes pay for fridge recycling.  If it wasn’t profitable they wouldn’t invest in new plants.

Whilst the current issues in refrigeration are hopefully relatively short term,  brought about by a ‘perfect storm’ of issues, we recognise that it does highlight the fragility of the supply chain and that more specialist recycling facilities need to be encouraged.  AMDEA has already called on all stakeholders to work collaboratively with industry to support sustained development and investment in the UK’s recycling infrastructure and help build the capacity and resilience needed to prevent similar disruption in the future, as well as recycling facilities that meet future needs and recycle to the highest standards.  Part of that is sharing with recyclers how producers see markets and technologies will develop in the coming years, allowing recyclers to design plants for the future and to give them the confidence to invest now. At the same time, we recognise that producers have an important role to play in closely managing their own relationships with their Product Compliance Scheme operators and ensuring that their obligations under the WEEE regime continue to be effectively met.