This is another article of the "Green Direction" series, where North talks about last year's initiative under the slogan "Repair, do not throw away". If you are curious about the effects of this campaign, you will not be disappointed - you will learn the details through the eyes of the initiator, i.e. the North company. Enjoy your read!
The "repair, do not throw away" initiative is a call to discontinue buying new home appliances if the old ones can be fixed. Most failures do not require you to call the service, because, with a bit of willingness, you can deal with the breakdown yourself. In addition to motivation, you only need basic knowledge (you can also watch tutorials) and components that fit our device. Purchasing appropriate spare parts may "resuscitate" the equipment and restore its operation.
As part of the "Repair, do not throw away" campaign, we encouraged Customers to publish the effects of their repairs on social media and mark them with #RepairDoNotThrowAway and #RepairChallenge hashtags. This allowed us to collect dozens of stories featuring home heroes who proved that anyone can save their electronic equipment - from gramophones, through washing machines, to furniture and shoes. Participants shared their knowledge about the repairs, uploaded photos and shared their suggestions as to what helped them fix the breakdown. This friendly community only proves that people want to repair their devices because they are aware of the impact of the accumulated e-waste on the environment. They also do not need newer and newer models of their devices to drive the sales market - they much more prefer to give them a second life.
A campaign that changes the market
The effects of our initiative that has been carried out since 2020 exceeded our expectations by far. It is for the purchases made by our customers that we have managed to save 15,475 tonnes of household appliances and audio/video devices from a landfill. It turned out that we most often repair washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners and refrigerators. Automatic coffee machines have recently joined this group. This shows that we are now more eager to make attempts to repair the equipment on our own and we do not want to replace our favourite devices. We look for alternative solutions on internet portals, social groups as well as seek expert knowledge.
Together with our Customers, we have also contributed to triggering long-term effects:
- enjoyment and satisfaction with a successful repair,
- savings in a household budget,
- a positive example for the younger generation,
- limitation of the production of e-waste,
- limitation of consumerism,
- reduction of the carbon footprint,
- extension of the lifetime of household appliances,
- promotion of the circular economy model.
To conclude, thanks to such a campaign as "Repair, do not throw away", consumers become more aware of their decisions. It's becoming more and more apparent that people choose to replace broken components and fix the breakdowns - it is becoming fashionable, in a way.
You can also give a second life to your devices. Join the "Repair, do not throw away" campaign and show the whole world how you rejuvenate damaged equipment!
