Image shows: Stefan Hay, Minister Mary Creagh MP, Dr Roz Savage MP
AMDEA held a hugely successful reception at the House of Commons on 29 October, hosted by environmental champion Dr Roz Savage MP on the theme of ‘Appliances bringing home the circular economy’. Braving the wet weather to attend, over 100 guests included parliamentarians from across the House, including Defra Minister Mary Creagh MP, senior civil servants, community groups and charities, retailers, trade associations, academics and AMDEA members.
After a warm welcome from host Roz Savage MP who reminded guests of the importance of the circular economy in protecting the environment, AMDEA Chair Teresa Arbuckle and AMDEA CEO Stefan Hay outlined the achievements of the home appliance industry and the support needed from Government. PhD researcher Minhal Mahmood shared details of the joint City St George’s University of London and AMDEA research into how new technologies can be deployed to enable more appliance repairs.
AMDEA CEO Stefan Hay said: “Our reception was an excellent opportunity for us to talk to our guests from Government and other stakeholders about the seven policy recommendations we are making that will support our members in delivering the circular economy into every home faster and more effectively. I was also delighted to have the opportunity to speak in some depth to Minister Creagh about AMDEA’s strategic ambitions for the future. We are very grateful to Roz Savage MP for hosting our reception, and I hope our guests enjoyed the opportunity to network and discuss how we can all work together to achieve this vital agenda as much as I did.”
AMDEA’s Seven Policy Recommendations:
- Incentivise householders to repair by lowering VAT on spare parts and labour.
- Encourage a new generation of professional repairers by fully allocating employers’ Growth and Skills Levy contributions to more flexible, employer-driven, apprenticeships.
- Promote co-ordinated consumer messaging on repairability with the responsible stakeholders, product groups and neighbouring markets.
- Lead the technology leap by enabling UK business to engage in the establishment of an efficient and simplified regulatory framework, avoiding duplication across departments to ensure timely compatible international regulations.
- Strengthen the ‘Repair or Replace?’ evidence base by employing robust scientific methodology to identify when replacement by efficient, new technology becomes preferable to repair.
- Put safety first by providing sufficient powers and resources to UK regulatory enforcement officers to deter unsafe spare parts being marketed online and on the high street.
- Keep consumer prices down by revising the dual burden of the Plastic Packaging Tax and the Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility which adds complexity and cost, risking price increases for consumers