More than 26 million fridges, freezers and washing machines have been dumped in the past five years, often left to rot in gardens, new research showed today.
Fewer than two out of five people bothered to take their unwanted appliances to the local tip and most did not bother to see if they could have broken goods repaired.
Insurance firm Homeserve said its survey of 1,000 adults revealed that one in three people had disposed of an appliance which was still working just because they wanted to upgrade to a newer model.
Jon Florsheim, chief executive of Homeserve, said: “We believe our research shows that there is still a lot of work to be done around changing the mindset of people towards the recycling of their white goods – and indeed persuading people to at least attempt to repair these goods before adding to the white good waste mountain.
“The situation is compounded by the fact that many people are needlessly discarding white goods that are in working order or could be fixed by a qualified tradesman.”
