AO has recycled 5 million appliances in 5 years

Telford-based electrical retailer AO Recycling is celebrating recycling over five million household appliances since it first opened its facility five years ago.

First opened in 2017 with the purpose of recycling household appliances, such as fridges, washing machines, tumble dryers, cookers and dishwashers which are then repurposed and resold.

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AO claims it has resold around 200,000 new appliances recycled at its Telford plant, which are often sold via trade and outlet shops.

However, the firm is perhaps most famous for its 80-tonne fridge-crunching machine "Bertha" which disposes of fridges while sequestering the harmful gases, such as CFC in older fridges, that are released. As many as 70,000 fridges per year are disposed of by this machine.

“We’re so pleased to have saved a huge five million appliances from potentially being fly-tipped. While AO Recycling is best known for its innovative fridge recycling facilities, we also tackle a range of large appliances that arrive on-site", AO's managing director Robert Sant said in a statement.

"Our research shows that there is a growing desire for a simple collection service for our unwanted appliances and we hope to continue recycling as many appliances as possible via our recycling services."

A recent survey conducted by the group suggests that as many as one-third of Brits have a washing machine they no longer use, with 9% of respondents admitting to still keeping them in their homes, which could indicate uncertainty in how to dispose of such large appliances.

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Almost 8 out of 10 people (79%) also revealed that if there was an easy way to recycle their old appliances via collection services, they would like to do this instead of keeping them.

Services such as Collect and Recycle are crucial in reducing the number of fly-tipped appliances on the streets – something that skyrocketed during the lockdowns.

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