At last, some good news!

You may have heard the hype (possibly from us!) about changes to the ‘Right to Repair’ laws coming into place this summer that make it easier for household appliances to be repaired. We couldn’t be happier to hear this news and are excited to share what it means for our fixing community.

In this blog, we will break down the different sections of the new regulations, when they’ll be in place and what we are doing to support them!

What are the rules?

According to the Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Regulations 2021, there are three big changes that will happen thanks to the new rules

• Manufacturers will have to ensure appliance spare parts are available for up to a decade. However, some of these parts will only be provided to professional repair companies to ensure they are installed correctly and stand the test of time.
• New devices will have to come with repair manuals to provide the consumer with the know-how to fix their appliances themselves.
• Appliances will also have to be made in such a way that they can be dismantled using conventional tools. This not only improves their fixability but also improves recyclability when they really can’t be fixed anymore.

What this means for you, your appliances and the environment

Repair Not Replace

Manufacturers will now be legally obliged to make spare parts available for the first time, which is music to our ears! The new rules will make it much easier for people to get hold of the spares they need to fix their household appliances and make them last a whole lot longer.

Waste Not, Want Not

As well as making spare parts more easily available, the law will help to reduce electrical waste too.

According to the Global E-waste Statistics Partnership, the UK generated around 1.5 million tonnes of electrical waste in 2019 and scrapped household appliances account for a large proportion of this waste. If we repaired just 10% of the appliances we currently throw away, we could save thousands of tonnes of e-waste every year!

The Ecodesign regulations are a huge step in the right direction for preventing the devasting effects e-waste has on our environment.

Saving Energy

It’s not just the environment that benefits from the new rules. As part of the regulation, energy labels have had a revamp too.

The previously outdated system, which rated some appliances’ energy performance as A+, A++ or A+++ due to rising standards of efficiency over the years, has now been simplified to a new A-G scale system. This is also thanks to the new standards introduced by the EU. Consumers can now make better-informed choices when purchasing appliances and the new standards are estimated to reduce energy bills by an average of £75 a year.

When can we expect this to be in place?

The new regulations will come into force in the summer. They will affect welding equipment, electric motors, household washing machines and washer-dryers, dishwashers, household refrigeration, commercial refrigeration, and electronic displays.

Where we come in

If you know anything about eSpares, you’ll know the words ‘repair not replace’ are the ones we live by!

We sell spares and provide easy-to-follow advice on fixing household appliances, but if the spare parts aren’t available there’s only so much we can do. The new ‘Right to Repair’ law will make it a lot easier for us to offer the spares people need to fix their household appliances and make them last longer.

For our expert advice and guidance on fixing your household and garden appliances, visit our Advice Centre.

Tags: Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Regulations, Fix it Yourself, Right to Repair