Learn DIY repairs and save a packet

Studies have shown that 40% of people renew household appliances before the end of their working lives and there are many different reasons – fitting a new kitchen, moving house or for a new design.

But the most common reason is for a breakdown and people will buy a new machine if they have had the old one for a few years and a replacement is not too expensive.

Often, too, they will decide to buy a new machine even before discovering if the old one can be repaired, never mind whether a repair is economically worth it.

Now Gifam, the federation of household appliance manufacturers, has reacted to moves to extend the guarantee period for appliances by publicising initiatives for people to repair goods themselves, and to show that repairs can be done.

After a pilot repair scheme in Marsac-sur-l’Isle in Dordogne and Limoges in Haute-Vienne it will hold a national ‘repair day’ on June 4 in around 20 towns and cities with repair workshops and chats.

Many cities have their own ‘repair cafés’ to learn DIY but the move is also tied to a bid to cut the amount of electrical goods that France throws out each year – 20kg per person.

Just 7kg of that DEEE waste (called WEEE in the UK for Waste electrical and electronic equipment) is collected and recycled – throwing out tonnes of valuable elements and components – and Europe wants at least 14kg recovered by 2019.

One key to this is the ‘circular economy’ and national agency Envie creates jobs by training jobless people to collect, repair if possible, or recycle old appliances to recover the valuable components and elements.

Its aim is to extend the working life of all appliances and get out of the vicious circle of ‘buy it, use it, bin it’ by giving them a second life. In a market where French consumers buy 15million large appliances and 42m small appliances each year, that makes a difference.

For items that can be repaired – from large kitchen appliances to the smallest – the refurbished items can be resold for a price that is up to 50% cheaper than the original.

Envie creates around 2,000 jobs a year and refurbishes 90,000 appliances for resale in its network of 45 shops across France.

Find your nearest on the map at www.envie.org and see the prices for refurbished appliances there or on their pages at Le Bon Coin.

Take a washing machine

Envie says the average refurbished appliance is eight years old and the average repair and refurbishment will take eight hours. Sale prices vary, but the Montauban shop has a Miele top-loader at €330 when its selling price was €1,200.

It is also holding an open day, on October 1, to show people that almost every appliance can be repaired with 20% of ‘broken’ items able to be fixed with just a little ‘savoir-faire’ but also that everything that cannot be repaired can be recycled