The UK government has been falling behind on climate action and missing targets on environmental policies. This resulted in Lord Deben, past chair of the Climate Change Committee, declaring the current situation “utterly unacceptable”.
However, it’s not only the green experts that have lost faith; Ipsos recently found that since 2022, 59% of UK voters feel that the government has been doing a bad job at dealing with climate change. James Rigg, CEO of Trojan Electronics explains more.
When it comes to e-waste, recent research has found that more than a fifth (22%) of consumers think the government should introduce new policies to increase the longevity of electrical products to enhance the country’s circularity efforts.
How can the UK government implement meaningful changes?
A clear first step would be to review the VAT on spare parts and repair labour. Reducing VAT would mean reducing the cost of repairing electronic items to extend their life. According to research, nine in ten (91%) of consumers are calling for the government to do just that.
Policymakers could also remove VAT on a repaired product when it is resold as typically there is no further value added. Instead, the current policy means the electrical item is taxed twice. The removal of VAT would stop this barrier to refurbishment and make the item more affordable, something that would be greatly appreciated in the current cost-of-living crisis. Additionally, this policy change could increase trust in the UK government as currently, over four-fifths (85%) of Britons think the government doesn’t do enough to encourage sustainability in electronics.
Removing or reducing VAT has already been proven effective for other countries in Europe. Austria and France have already introduced schemes to subsidise the cost of electrical repairs in recent years. The new UK government would simply be following suit.
Curbside e-waste collection scheme
Another way of tackling this country’s enormous e-waste problem would be simplifying the collection of unrepairable electrical items. There is already an awareness of general waste curbside collections, so why not expand the process to include white goods and end-of-life electronics to reach the government’s goal of net zero by 2035?
Currently, the UK is the second highest e-waste producer in the world, so without these circular practices, our e-waste will end up in landfill sites around the world adding to the overwhelming global problem.
Crucial to reducing the e-waste issue in the UK is embedding circularity into the very DNA of electronics. One way to encourage manufacturers to do so is by implementing a system that clearly shows the sustainability credentials of products on the market. A traffic light system visible on electronics packaging would rank products on carbon footprint, average lifespan, recycled material, recyclable parts and interchangeable parts.
This would allow the consumer to make educated decisions based on the environmental impact of products at the point of purchase. This system was piloted to a survey panel, with 91% of people welcoming a traffic light system for electronics manufacturers. Almost two-thirds (62%) claimed this would change their electrical purchasing behaviours.
Final thoughts
As the clock ticks, the UK government must make meaningful policy changes to better our e-waste production. Demands from the public and businesses will also only increase as we await policy changes. We have already seen consumer patterns towards circularity improving with more than half of consumers getting their electronic items repaired instead of buying brand new and 44% of consumers purchasing refurbished electrical products. Now we must wait for the new government to show their response to the UK’s colossal e-waste problem.
