Broken fridges pile up across England and Wales amid heatwaves and processing plant closures

A "mountain" of broken fridges is accumulating across England and Wales, with dozens of local councils forced to suspend collections of white goods. The Local Government Association (LGA) warns that this backlog is growing daily, leaving residents unable to dispose of old or broken appliances.

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The backlog of defunct white goods is getting bigger by the day – they're at risk of becoming a mountain.

The surge in breakdowns is attributed to this year's multiple heatwaves, which have caused fridges and freezers to fail. Compounding the issue is a national shortage of specialists required to safely process these appliances. Three of the UK's ten full-scale processing plants have closed in the past year due to a fire, bankruptcy, and change of use. The remaining plants also face operational challenges, as they cannot function effectively in temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.

Councillor Arooj Shah, chair of the LGA's Neighbourhoods committee, is calling on the government to act urgently. "It is not right that residents who are trying to do the right thing can't take old or broken appliances to their local recycling centre due to failures elsewhere in the system," Shah stated. The LGA wants white goods companies to shoulder the burden of disposal, assist councils with extra storage costs, and prevent future recurrences of the problem.

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It is not right that residents who are trying to do the right thing can't take old or broken appliances to their local recycling centre due to failures elsewhere in the system.

A Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesman acknowledged the capacity issues and stated that short-term storage solutions are being implemented. "Our priority is to minimise disruption to household collection or proper disposal of fridges and other cooling equipment, and we are pushing producers of these items to take all necessary steps to achieve this and resolve any collection delays," the spokesman said. Fridges and freezers require specialized dismantling due to environmentally harmful gases they contain, making safe disposal critical.

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Our priority is to minimise disruption to household collection or proper disposal of fridges and other cooling equipment, and we are pushing producers of these items to take all necessary steps to achieve this and resolve any collection delays.