Green washing machine unveiled...

Despite the headline this isn’t some futuristic machine that churns out greenwash hype (though Greenbang suspects marketeers are working away in a secret basement somewhere trying to build one).

The story here is that washing machine company Indesit is taking part in a trial to make components for new white goods entirely out of recycled waste plastic.

The Indesit and Axion Recycling project, funded by the government-backed not-for-profit Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap), was undertaken in September this year to investigate the potential to use recycled plastic materials within Electrical and Electronic Equipment.

The trial currently applies to an access panel in the back of Indesit’s Hotpoint Aquarius and Ultima washing machines, which is produced using 100 per cent recycled content.

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.

Mike Birch, environmental manager at Indesit, said:

“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.”