Technology helps aid Recycling when it comes to Appliances

Changing form cheaper metals to plastics, fibreglass and then back again to better metals (such as steel and aluminium) not only helped improve the usability of home appliances, but

also their recyclability.

There is a simple reason why home appliances had to be invented; and that is because the world simply ran short of people to work for them in the last century. It was then up to inventors or even the common man to come up with ways to get common household jobs done quickly; and done right. Be it the rudimentary dish washer or the uncomplicated washboard which simply assisted in getting things done; to the food processor, which actually got the job done quickly—all of these soon found a place in everyone’s daily lives in the last century.

Today things have changed; instead of simply inventing appliances—selling them off—and then getting to know what the problems were, manufacturers (the inventors back then who have now gone global) have turned the humble home appliance into technological marvels. An appliance today is brought to the market shelf, only after a lot of testing and research goes into the functionality, design and usability of the appliance. It involves a lot of market research because of the level of competition among various brands. Various brands also offer their own patented technologies which make the appliances either smarter or quicker than the one standing next to it at the store. Eventually, it is the customer who benefits because he/she makes use of it on a daily basis.

But there is one more benefit that came along with the progress that scrap manufacturers have made—they are now recyclable. Back in the 70’s appliances (the larger ones) would commonly be made of metal; but because of problems with rust, fibreglass had to be used to build the panels of washing machines, refrigerators etc. But fibreglass also had it fair share of problems, which is why most appliances today are made of steel or aluminium. Both metals are recyclable although the former has been recycled for a lot longer than the latter. Metals are also malleable and have the ability to dissipate heat better than plastics. Moreover, they can be machined or designed better and used economically due to their better stress-bearing abilities.

Thanks to exchange offers at some major appliance giants, a lot of the older appliances do end up reaching the scrap yards instead of ending up in garbage bins. There they are broken down and sold off individually with most of the metal parts reaching the copper scrap metal recyclers in Dubai. Scrap metal recyclers in Dubai, absorb all of these metals; segregate and then process and package them into either feedstock or ingots for manufacturers. Such recycled materials (non-ferrous or ferrous metal scrap) are often cheaper to buy when compared to virgin metals of the same, which is why manufacturers choose to implement such metals in their newer designs. Apart from being modern, safe and functional; appliances of today also implement energy savings technologies and take them to newer levels with every new model.