UK Regulation Sets Stage for Longer Appliance Lifetimes

It’s happened to so many people that a washing machine, drier, or refrigerator breaks down only for them to find out that there are no parts available after 5 or 6 years.

The result is a huge waste of otherwise perfectly functioning appliances that have to head for recycling plants, causing an unnecessarily high carbon footprint.

A Treehugger report provided some details of how this will change in the UK.

“New regulations state that manufacturers are legally obligated to provide spare parts for up to 10 years for washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, TVs, and lighting fixtures.”

While it’s sometimes a good idea to retire outdated and energy inefficient appliances, most machines bought in the last ten years already provide a high level of efficiency.

That means that the longer they remain in use while still being safe, the less carbon footprint and natural resource-intense this production sector becomes.

A further step that has yet to come is for manufacturers to make their service manuals freely available to the public to allow them to make DIY repairs, as this will make it more economically viable to keep them in working order.