Category Archives: Environmental

REPIC hits three million tonnes WEEE milestone

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REPIC, the industry leading provider of WEEE producer responsibility compliance solutions, has been arranging for the collection and treatment of WEEE on behalf of its producer members since 2007.

Looking back over its achievement, REPIC has been undertaking an analysis of the reported EEE and WEEE trends over the past ten years and has been considering how the UK WEEE system is placed to accommodate the future changes that are likely. A technical essay will be published on the company’s Resource Hub in the coming weeks.

To mark the occasion, Louise Grantham, REPIC’s Chief Executive, visited Gap Group (NE) Limited’s facilities in Gateshead, the UK’s most recent fridge processing and recycling plant to undertake WEEELABEX certification to see first hand the WEEE being treated on REPIC’s behalf. The occasion presented an opportunity to express thanks to the scheme’s producer members, service providers, waste management companies, local authorities and other partners who have worked with and supported REPIC in achieving this milestone.

REPIC’s Chief Executive, Louise Grantham, said:

“We are proud of our 3 million tonnes achievement. We also recognise that significant milestones are not achieved alone but in collaboration with all of our partners.

“Today is about celebrating success collectively and saying a huge thank you. At a time when the recycling of e-waste has never been of greater importance, it is important to recognise what can be achieved when we work collectively to improve standards, minimise losses from the system and maximise collection levels.”

Left to right: Peter Moody and Peter Young from GAP Group with Graeme Milne, Louise Grantham and Simon Hill from REPIC.

Louise was joined in the celebrations by Peter Moody, group managing director at Gap Group (NE) Limited and REPIC’s newest recruit, Simon Hill.

Peter Moody said:

“The achievement of reaching 3m tonnes of recycled WEEE is a real accomplishment and something the management team should be extremely proud of. REPIC is at the forefront of driving up standards in WEEE processing something that in my opinion is long overdue.

“Gap Group has worked well with them for a significant number of years and hope our relationship will only get stronger as we continue to invest in new and improved technology. I think our commitment to achieve WEEELABEX certification underlines this and is a clear statement of intent.”

Simon joined REPIC in May 2021 as Account Manager – North and Scotland. The experienced WEEE sector professional previously spent over ten years as Commercial Manager with Wincanton and Sims. Prior to taking up his new position, Simon was with Suez for 6 years managing their subcontract collections network in the North and Midlands. He brings a vast amount of sector knowledge and expertise to his role in looking after key local authority partnerships for REPIC.

To see REPIC marks reaching three million tonne of waste electrical and electronic equipment recycled with this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogj7wEZuzus

Liebherr recognized for sustainability

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 Liebherr Appliances have been awarded the silver medal from EcoVadis, thereby firming up its position as a sustainable brand. With this award, EcoVadis is recognising the commitment of Liebherr in the fields of the environment, ethics, labour and human rights as well as sustainable procurement. “Only companies that take a consistent approach to assuming responsibility for society and the environment can enjoy lasting success – and that’s a good thing – explains Steffen Nagel, Director of Sales & Marketing of Liebherr-Hausgeräte -. This award recognises the joint effort of people from the most different Liebherr divisions who are constantly working to make our brand even more sustainable”. EcoVadis is an internationally recognised Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) self-assessment provider and offers a solution for monitoring sustainability in global supply chains. The EcoVadis method is based on international sustainability standards (GRI, UN Global Compact, ISO 26000) and is monitored by a scientific committee of CSR and supply chain experts to create reliable CSR ratings.

Nidec Starts Production of Label-Supporting Variable-Speed Compressors

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Nidec Global Appliance has started manufacturing variable-speed compressors under its Embraco brand at its facility in Austria, a response to the “challenging” new energy labels adopted by the European Union, which require smarter compressors and motors, the company said in a statement.

The first compressors rolling off the production line will be the FMX series, using isobutane (R600a). The Austrian facility will also start producing Embraco’s VES compressor series soon. The VES is available for both R600a and propane (R290).

“The new labels affect many of the home appliances powered by Nidec Global Appliance’s portfolio of compressors and motors in Europe,” said Guilherme Almeida, Strategic Planning Vice President at Nidec Global Appliance.

How Location-Based Technology Empowers Electrolux Smart Home Appliances

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Electrolux is a leading global appliances company, producing a wide range of consumer electrical goods, including washing machines, cookers, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, etc. Since 2017, Electrolux has been investing in ‘connected appliances’ as part of its digital transformation agenda, and to shift its business model from the traditional business-to-business (B2B) to business-to-consumer (B2C).

In 2020, Electrolux and IBM’s The Weather Company announced a new collaboration to use location-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance customer experience and help increase the energy efficiency of home appliances in order to reduce their impact on the environment.

AI-enabled weather forecasting

IBM’s weather API (Application Programming Interface) provides hyper-localized data on air quality, pollen levels, humidity and temperature to Electrolux. This data is then used as a basis for smart app recommendations about when to use appliances such as clothes dryers, air purifiers and air conditioners. For example, after reading the weather forecast, the smart app will give recommendations on the best time to start the dryer because it’s about to rain, or when to turn off the air purifier because the air quality that day is good.

With supervision from an experienced team of meteorologists, IBM uses AI and analytics to pull weather models together with relevant data sources and arrive at the most accurate forecast. The process includes a next-generation AI-enabled weather forecasting model called IBM GRAF (Global High-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting) system. IBM GRAF uses Machine Learning to rapidly update atmospheric changes hourly and at a 3km resolution.

Connected home ecosystem

The real-time, location-based weather predictions are made available through the Electrolux Life App. Users are prompted to use their clothes dryer when rain is forecasted or when the air quality is not acceptable for air-drying. Similarly, the application recommends not to use the dryer when the outdoor weather is optimal for air-drying, thus saving energy.

The app can also control inputs for other appliances, such as the humidity control for air conditioners and accurate readings of indoor and outdoor weather to inform the use of air purifiers. An entire ecosystem of multiple connected appliances benefits from access to accurate weather forecasts, as well as environmental factors such as air quality, pollen, pollution and more.



Electrolux Life App with IBM weather notifications | Image credit: IBM

Location tech enabling hardware-as-a-service business model

In 2019, Electrolux kicked off trials of new hardware-as-a-service business models in Sweden and China, enabling consumers to subscribe to, rather than purchase, its products.

For instance, in Sweden, customers can subscribe to a robotic vacuum cleaner on a pay-per-use basis from only 1 SEK per sq m cleaned. The vacuum cleaner is equipped with a variety of sensors and software, including a location-based 3D Vision camera and laser for accurate navigation and area cleaned calculation. With Electrolux connected ecosystem technology, users can control the product via an app and schedule cleaning when they are away from home as well as monitor the number of sq m cleaned each month.

Demand planning and prediction

Electrolux also uses AI to plan and predict demand. By enhancing its historical sales data with data from external sources, the company ensures that retailers have the right goods when customers are demanding them.

For example, weather data is used to predict sales of air conditioners during summer time in Sweden. Using advanced statistical models, the data science team at Electrolux predicts the exact amount of the right products to be supplied to retailers at specific times of the year.

In addition to weather data, the company also monitors the Internet for online reviews, ratings and prices of products in both retail stores and online stores, including price promotions by competitors. It uses this data to avoid oversupply, hence retailers do not need to offer excessive discounts due to overstocking.

Since Electrolux products are supplied to different parts of the world, location technology is crucial to tune its manufacturing, distribution and customer supply chain. Based on the demand prediction, products are distributed from warehouses near the factories or plants, to redistribution centres. The demand planning practice helps optimize suppliers, logistics chains and transport, giving Electrolux a competitive advantage in the white goods market.