Recycle with WRAP

Electrical goods could one day be made largely of recycled materials with the help of a UK-funded programme.

(WRAP), which focused on plastic packaging when it was founded in 2000, is now helping manufacturers turn material from discarded electrical goods into new products. The project aims to save raw material and production costs.

, the first company to join the programme, recently introduced recycled content into its Hotpoint Aquarius and Ultima washing machines. The back access ports of the washing machines are now covered with a plate made of recycled ABS, a thermoplastic.

The material was produced from shredded plastic waste recovered from UK fridges, and was formed into a high-grade polymer that has a similar weight to the original plastic it is replacing.

The WRAP co-ordinators claim the washing machines are the first large-scale white electrical goods that incorporate recycled material derived from the UK waste stream.

Gerrard Fisher, WRAP project manager, said the source of inspiration for this work was the EU's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which came into force in the UK in January 2007. The directive makes it mandatory to treat and dispose of waste electrical and electronic equipment in an ecologically friendly way at sites across Europe.