Research by the UK’s leading online spare parts retailer, eSpares, has found that Brummies are better than residents from Wolverhampton at saving money and protecting the environment by fixing household appliances. In fact, the survey found Wolverhampton to be the joint-worst city in the UK at disposing of broken appliances and buying new, alongside Newcastle. The results come as part of a national survey, which identified that a staggering 75% of Brits don’t attempt to fix broken appliances themselves.
Over a third of Birmingham residents who fix broken appliances themselves said their main motivation to do so was because they ‘enjoy fixing things’. Conversely, of those in Wolverhampton who dispose of household appliances, more than half say it was because they believe it’s ‘not cost effective’ to fix broken appliances.
“Birmingham has come out top in the Midlands rivalry this time, with Wolverhampton having the highest broken appliance rate in the UK,” commented Ad Casey, head of brand at eSpares. “Unfortunately, as a nation, drastic behavioural change is needed towards broken household appliances. That step can only be made if the support is there to give householders the confidence and knowledge to fix repairable appliances.”
Casey continued: “With this in mind, we’ve launched our #FixFirst campaign – a national initiative that provides householders with all the information they need to fix appliances themselves. It also helps consumers to protect the environment, save money and enjoy the satisfaction that comes from fixing things themselves.”
Statistics from Europe show that if the UK fixed just 10% more of perfectly repairable appliances, the nation would save an estimated 100,000 tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment from being thrown away.
To help encourage the UK population to #FixFirst, the eSpares Advice Centre has more than 500 ‘how to’ tutorial videos, 700 repair articles and 9,000 manufacturer appliance manuals, all supported by an inventory of a million spare parts ready for next day delivery.