Pulling the plug on New Zealand’s old, inefficient fridges
Old fridges are bad news. They waste a lot of energy and money, and they’re not good for the environment.
The good news is that EECA’s ENERGYWISE™ programme has partnered up with a range of businesses to help Kiwis get rid of their old fridges through a series of round-up pilots around the country.
Fridge round-ups
The fridge round-up pilots offer people an incentive to turn in their old fridge, which is then disposed of in an environmentally responsible way.
Over 70 per cent of us own two refrigeration appliances at home – and the second one is often the old kitchen fridge that has been moved to the garage when the kitchen fridge was upgraded.
Old refrigeration appliances are much less energy efficient than newer models – typically using two to three times more electricity – and costing around $200-$300 a year to run. They can contain harmful CFCs, so it makes good sense to put these old appliances out of use, save on household power bills and benefit the environment.
The focus is on encouraging people with an old, secondary beer fridge to switch off and get rid of it for good; or if upgrading to a new fridge, to refrain from holding on to their old inefficient model.
In each case, partner businesses participating in the pilot around the country make the process easy for people by taking the hassle out of disposing of their old appliances.
Energy Savings
By July it is expected that the round-up pilots will have put 4,000 old, inefficient fridges and freezers out of business. Assuming half are replaced by a new, more energy efficient fridge and half removed without replacement, this equates to around $746,000 in energy savings for New Zealanders each year.
With an estimated 450,000 old, inefficient fridges and freezers currently in use throughout New Zealand, the potential for future savings is huge.
Partnerships
Partnership is a key part of the pilot and a number of recyclers and major appliance retailers are on board.
They include:
- Trash Palace recycling centre in Porirua
- Transpacific in Wellington City;
- Eco Insulation in Auckland;
- Nationwide retail chains Noel Leeming, Appliance Connection (100% and LV Martin stores) and Appliance Network (Betta Electrical and Kitchen N’ Things).
The pilots will be assessed later this year in order to consider the feasibility of implementing a wider fridge round-up programme throughout New Zealand.
