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The first trial of its type in the country, funded by WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), will herald, let's hope, a new era of new electrical goods made out of discarded plastic from the same waste stream - in this case, new parts for white goods made out of plastic polymers from old white goods - resulting in reduced CO2 emissions and less reliance on virgin materials (such as oil to make virgin plastic).

Described in the industry as 'closed-loop' recycling, the trial was the first in the country to demonstrate using recycled materials in this way was possible on mass production electrical products.  Today's announcement could pave the way for other electrical products to incorporate recycled materials from the same waste stream.

What consumers want
The success of the project coincides with the launch of new research from WRAP, which reveals that many consumers would favour an electronic product containing recycled content at point of purchase, if price, functionality and reliability were equal to a substitute item.

Undertaken by Ipsos MORI, the study demonstrated that most consumers would not associate recycled materials with lower quality, and that advertising recycling content would be welcomed to help inform the purchasing decision.

Mike Birch, Environmental Manager at Indesit Company, commented:
"Consumers won't see any difference, either in appearance or performance, with these recycled materials included - except, perhaps, the feel-good factor of knowing their purchase has helped the environment.

"We are committed to finding environmental benefits in our activities, and intend to continue these pioneering trials to explore opportunities to widen the application of using recycled materials across more products, including fridges, freezers and cookers."

Gerrard Fisher, WRAP's Manufacturing Development Project Manager, said:
"This groundbreaking project has demonstrated that closed-loop recycling in electrical equipment is commercially viable on a large scale for the first time, with no negative effect on performance. We encourage other manufacturers to follow this example.

"Our recent research has also demonstrated that consumers are willing to buy products that contain some recycled content over those that do not - further strengthening the business argument for this approach."

The Indesit and Axion Recycling project was undertaken in September this year to investigate the potential to use recycled plastic materials within Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE).

The trial currently applies to an access panel in the back of Indesit Company's Hotpoint Aquarius and Ultima washing machines, and which is produced using 100 percent recycled content. WRAP now plans to work with other companies to further explore the benefits of this innovative approach.

The material has been produced using shredded plastic waste recovered from domestic fridges, and made into a high grade polymer that has similar performance to the previous part.