Evaluation of suitability of recycled domestic appliances for re-use

Reasons for disposal of domestic refrigerators and whether some of the appliances could potentially be re-used was studied. Based on visual inspection, a simple operational test and an electrical inspection, 28% of appliances were considered suitable for re-use. Potentially, these appliances could be provided cheaply or without cost to low income households. It might be unethical to provide low income households with appliances that had high energy use or performance issues, therefore the appliances were tested to compare the temperature and energy performance with their original stated performance. In addition the appliances were compared to current energy efficient appliances. For appliances where manufacturers data was available it was found that 18 (out of 22) appliances used more energy when tested than provided on the energy label, 1 appliance used almost identical energy and 3 appliances used less energy. Compared to current appliances only 5 appliances were better than or equal to an ‘A’ rated appliance.