A major concern for many consumers is recycling of their household items. This is no different for dishwasher owners. How recyclable is a dishwasher? As with everything else it depends on what the item is made of and proximity of recycling plants. People are not going to spend a huge sum of money to send their used items to a recycling plant if it is located too far away or there is no system in place to get these items to the plant. This is why it is important to find a plant closest to you.
With that in mind, I have included a link at the end of this article which can help you find a recycling plant close to you. Alternatively, the manufacturers of the dishwasher can be consulted on this matter as well. Just find the brand name of your dishwasher and search for them on the internet or yellow pages and ask them for recycling information for your appliance. If I stumble upon other useful links, I will post them at the end of this article.
Dishwashers are primarily made from steel and plastics. The housing, racks, pump, motor and electrical parts are normally made from steel and may be coated with a non reactive plastic material like polyvinyl chloride or nylon. The tub, wash tower and spray arms may be injection molded with some sort of poly propylene plastic which is resistant to heat, water and chemicals like detergent. I mention this information because if the constituent materials are known, it is easier to find a recycling avenue for your dishwasher.
Recycling plants that deal with steel and plastics will separate the materials at some point in their process and send them to their respective processing into recycled material. It is a much better option than dumping them expecting someone else to find them and recycle them. We are responsible for the future of our planet and what kind of world do we want to leave to our kids, one that is littered and needs cleaning or one that has been conscientiously cleaned because of our choices today? I dream of my son running happily through lush green Utopian fields, hope I’m not alone.
The onus is upon us to recycle as much waste as we can. It benefits us in the long run. The more resources we throw away, the more we end up paying for it, literally. There are limited resources that can be mined and extracted and as the availability of these resources decline, the scarcity factor kicks in and these materials become more expensive, so we end up paying more for them in the future. This is no secret to anyone who monitors the price of oil, gas silver and so many other precious resources. The more we recycle, the more we curb this scarcity factor in our favor.
LINKS:
Earth911 – An excellent site, where you enter your appliance and US zip code and the results show you the available recycling plants for your item.
UK Dishwasher Recycling Service – Beautifully added to Sainsbury’s UK. You can request your old dishwasher be recycled when you purchase a new one! (At a small fee of course)
There’s a whole lot of articles about the best value dishwashers, however this one was very nicely written. The most effective one I’ve read up to now was at http://hubpages.com/hub/Best-Value-Dishwasher-Reliability-Comparing-and-Specs