It has been reported that Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak, has backed the Right to Repair movement. Wozniak has said it’s ‘time to start doing the right things’ in a passionate speech on the topic in which he explains he would never have been able to afford to create Apple I without open technology.

From now on, manufacturers will have to make spare parts available to consumers, with the aim of extending the lifespan of products by up to 10 years. The new rules are designed to tackle planned obsolescence in which manufacturers purposefully build products to break after some time to encourage buyers to purchase new ones. The new laws will not only save items unnecessarily being thrown away, but will also save Brits’ cash as they no longer will be forced to fork out hundreds for new appliances.

As it stands per capita, the UK produces more electronic waste than any other country in the world, apart from Norway, generating 1.5 million tonnes of electronic waste yearly. Lupe Technology, the UK’s leading recyclable vacuum cleaner designed by a former Dyson engineer, has been founded on the premise of deconstructing the built to break nature of domestic goods, and has commissioned a ground breaking study on just how much damage the domestic appliance sector inflicts.

Despite the fact that 45% would happily pay an extra 25% more for a domestic appliance that is greener and more energy efficient and lasts longer, the data has found that 1 in 10 Brits have been through a minimum of 15 vacuum cleaners in their life, amounting to a staggering 58,635,000 units, with almost a fifth agreeing that their vacuum cleaner is the most built to break appliance in their house, amongst a myriad of other household goods. This research has demonstrated the overwhelming disconnect between consumer intent and product availability, unveiling a disconcerting issue within the white goods sector which needs to be addressed in order to reduce further harmful impact on our planet.

In fact, the study has further shown this problem does not just pertain to vacuum cleaners, but to all domestic goods. Kettles have been found to be the quickest to break appliance by 33% of the nation, followed by toasters (13%), hairdryers (12%) and vacuum cleaners (12%). When asked what the easiest to replace appliances were, kettles came up top again with 45% of the nation agreeing, followed by electric toothbrushes (16%), hairdryers (14%) and toasters (13%).

Key Stats*

Within the research, 2096 respondents, were asked which home appliance they found to be the quickest to break and easiest to replace, with the findings as follows: