Household appliances are more of an investment and necessity than just a splurge, and are bought to last for years to come. However, if they’ve been in your home for many years and are giving you more trouble than you can handle, it might be time to replace them.
If you are planning on buying new white goods to replace your old household appliances, it is essential to dispose of your old appliances in an eco-friendly way. Therefore, you should insist upon buying products that are designed for waste recycling. This will make your white goods both energy and water efficient, and will reduce landfill waste, conserve important resources, and reduce the greenhouse gases released during the waste disposal process.
• Send it back to the retailer
Before buying a household appliance, be sure to check with the manufacturer or retailer if they will remove your old white goods after a few years. Some of them may take a fee or a delivery charge to do this, and some manufacturers take the old white goods back free of charge.
Most of these products go to waste recycling companies that reuse the metal from the appliances. In case of other recyclable products, a lot of manufacturers send them for eco-friendly rubbish disposal as well.
• Give it to people in need
If your old appliance is still in good condition, it’s a good idea to repurpose it by giving it to someone else in need. There are many charities in need of white goods and would be appreciative of second-hand appliances. As well as this, there are many websites that allow you to give away your white goods online for those in need, such as hospices, care homes or homeless shelters, to name a few.
• Sell it
If your white goods are in particularly good condition and you don’t want to just give it away for reuse, you may decide to sell it to earn some extra pocket money instead. This will add a couple of extra years to your white goods and save the environment from potential damage by reducing landfill waste.
To do this, you can put it up for sale on eBay or Gumtree, or perhaps even Facebook Marketplace, and get a good price for your old appliance, which can be put towards a new one.
• Recycle it
The best option of getting rid of your old household appliances is to get them recycled, and most often this includes enlisting the help of a waste disposal company to ensure your appliances are recycled and disposed of safely.
Most old appliances are made of metal (often two-thirds steel) and other materials, which may contain toxic elements that can be hazardous to the environment. By not recycling this correctly, it may result in the toxic waste ending up in landfill and contaminating the environment.
Metal parts can be given to metal recyclers who will remove the metal from the appliance and reuse it for other products. This makes for efficient reuse of the product parts and prevents it going straight to landfill. The rest can be sifted through and disposed of to the suitable locations by professional waste removers, who understand how to remove WEEE waste effectively.