Korrina Hegarty, APPLiA’s Environment Policy Director, met with the Norsirk Board to provide the home appliance industry’s perspective on the role of circular home appliances in the context of the upcoming EU Sustainable Product Initiative.
Where do we stand on the evolution of sustainability and circularity of home appliances in recent years? Mrs Korrina Hegarty, APPLiA Environment Policy Director, met with the Norsirk Board to discuss the home appliance industry’s perspective on the role of circular appliances in the context of the upcoming EU Sustainable Product Initiative. *Norsik is an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) partner in Norway, handling all aspects of products disposal responsibility for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), batteries and packaging.
Over the years, home appliances have delivered increasingly higher efficiency standards, not only at the user phase. “Starting with raw materials sourcing, up to design and production of appliances, to continue with use by consumers, repair and recycling, the home appliance industry has a long history of committing to circularity,” kicked off Mrs Hegarty. Building upon concrete data and real life scenarios, APPLiA’s latest Circular Appliances website, guides consumers throughout each phase of the products lifecycle, towards the establishment of a ‘Circular Culture’.
There are a variety of ways to drive resource efficiency and manufacture sustainable products that advance the circular economy: targeting at-source material efficiency, increasing the efficiency of products during their use phase, using more sustainable materials, designing for durability and repair as well as for recovery. Moreover, a whole new range of sustainable alternatives such as product-as-service models and digital solutions for instance, are underway and can contribute to a better quality of life, innovative jobs and upgraded knowledge and skills. These new sustainable goods, services and businesses, together with traditional sales models, can contribute to foster more sustainable consumption patterns.
Nevertheless, at the recycling stage, there are still gaps to be closed. “Today, 90% of the materials coming from the officially collected appliances, when they have reached their end of life, are recovered, recycled and ready to enter again into manufacturing loops,” explained Mrs Hegarty. For this to happen all waste would need to be effectively tracked and reported. In reality, however, two-thirds of precious resources remain undocumented and is not coming back into material loops as secondary raw material, making it unclear how this waste is collected and thereafter treated. “The waste market should set the right requirements ensuring that all waste is correctly collected, reported and treated, providing a sufficient competitive economic environment for all involved actors,” she continued, highlighting the importance for manufacturers to approach the entire ecodesign of products from a flexible standpoint to ultimately ensure that innovation remains at the heart of the development of sustainable products going forward.
As a key player in the discussion, the home appliance industry renews its commitment to continue making products placed on the EU market more sustainable.