As retailers and shoppers gear up for another highly-charged Black Friday, the sustainability organisation, WRAP is helping people buy just what they need, first time with their SMART guide to buying electrical items.
Their advice is simple: plan ahead, keep calm, buy smarter and keep the environment in mind. You’ll probably save yourself some extra cash along the way too.
Each year the UK buys two million tonnes of electrical and electronic products and generates around 1.5 million tonnes of waste electrical and electronic products. With an anticipated surge in sales of electrical goods on Black Friday, shoppers can avoid getting carried along with the crowds, buy what they need and get the most out of their electrical goods, whilst reducing their environmental impact too by remembering WRAP’s handy acronym:
S – Shortlist
Spend time researching and working out where to be (in store or online), and when to get the deal you want. Consider if it’s fit for purpose?
M – Make a decision
Before you go out to target a purchase and try to think about the lifetime of your selected product and its true value for money. Some products are designed to reduce their overall environmental impact and usually more energy efficient. Find out more in the Buying Better Products guide on the Recycle Now website.
A – Act
Stick to your plan to get the bargains you want rather than impulse buying something you haven’t researched (and probably don’t need).
R – Register
Register your appliance when you get home as a safety precaution. In a small number of cases, manufacturers may identify problems with an appliance once the product has been in use for some time. Registering is made easy on the Register My Appliance website and registering with the manufacturer may also save you money by entitling you to an extended warranty or guarantee period.
T – Trade-in
Trade-in old products that you’re replacing to save some extra money. Research shows that UK householders have around £1 billion worth of electrical and electronic equipment in their homes which they no longer use – items you could sell to high street shops, sell online or donate to a charity shop. If it doesn’t work, recycle it. Around a quarter of 1.5 million tonnes of electrical items discarded in the UK each year ends up in the residual waste bin. Small electrical items can be recycled in a standard sized carrier bag placed for collection beside your kerbside recycling boxes. Larger items can be recycled at Household Recycling Centres.
So if you’re hoping to snap up some bargain electrical or electronic items in the Black Friday sales, remember WRAP’s advice and be SMART about it.
Visit the WRAP website to find out more.
