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NAWDO is calling on the Government to assist local authorities in light of significant and increasing pressure on the UK’s fridge and freezer recycling infrastructure. This is now impacting local collection services and available capacity at Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs) to safely store these items.
At the current time, more refrigerators and freezers are entering the system across the UK than there is capacity available to treat when they reach the end of their life. This has been caused by a series of operational disruptions over the past few years, which has significantly impacted the UK’s fridge treatment and disposal capacity.
The situation has been exacerbated by increases in appliance sales and replacements driven by hot weather, when there are reduced processing rates at some treatment facilities during periods of extreme heat.
Some Producer Compliance Schemes (responsible for collecting and recycling old appliances under the WEEE Regulations) have now suspended collections of fridges and freezers from local authority sites. As a consequence, many councils have had no choice but to stop accepting fridges and freezers at HWRCs, and some have temporarily suspended collection services.
Without Government intervention, the likely consequences are fridge stockpiles with more collections suspended and HWRCs unable to take these items. This could lead to fly tipping and harm to the environment.
At this time, NAWDO is calling on the Government and Producer Compliance Schemes to assist local authorities by maintaining collections where possible, providing funding for storage costs, and assisting with any additional costs falling on councils. By doing so, this will ultimately prevent local residents paying for disposal twice.
The Government must also act to address a broken system. Additional UK processing capacity must be urgently explored, so that a repeat of this situation in the future can be avoided.
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