Old AC and fridge exchange offers: Where do the used appliances go?

Maybe you have repaired your old air conditioner or fridge once, and then it has gone out of order again. Now you want to replace it with a new one. Maybe you are also concerned about where the discarded appliance is going to end up, and worried that it might harm the environment.

Then, there is this option that you can try to sell it to your local repairman, but they don't tend to offer a great price.

The good news, you can exchange your old appliances with a new one if you prefer to go with some specific brands.

Minister, Walton, and Singer have ongoing offers that allow the customers to get a concession on the price of the appliance they want to purchase in exchange for the used one. Walton's Marcel AC and Singer's Beko fridge brands also have this offer. 

The offers have been ongoing for a fairly long time.

Walton, Marcel and Minister are the brands you'll look for for air conditioners.

And for the fridge, Minister, Singer and Beko are the options.

The brands say they utilise the usable parts of the devices in servicing jobs. Some refrained from disclosing the information.

Minister AC and fridge offers up to 30% discount on receiving any brand of used AC or fridge, functional or out of order. The discount is determined by the condition of the device. 

"The sales persons assess the used device and decide the amount of discount to be offered. Usually a full 30% discount is offered with rare exceptions," said Sohel Kibria, Head of Brand and Communication at Minister Hi-Tech Park Limited.

Kibria said the company last year sold 5,000-6,000 units of AC and fridge under the offer.

Walton's Marcel AC offers a discount of up to Tk23,000 for a used split AC. For light commercial air conditioners, it can go up to Tk42,480.

"Our AC exchange offer has been continuing since 2019. So far we have sold 15,000 units under this offer," SM Sakibur Rahman, Product Manager, Air Conditioner, Walton Hi-Tech Industries Plc told The Business Standard.

"A customer can avail this offer in exchange for any functional or out-of-order AC of any brand," he added.

Singer double door fridge, and Beko, another brand of Singer, has been offering a discount of Tk10,000 for a fridge of any brand.

What do the brands do with such a large number of used home appliances?

"We harvest reusable parts from the appliances, which are used in our service centres. We replace bad parts with functional ones. Many other parts, which are unusable, are destroyed," said Minister's Head of Brand.

On the other hand, Singer and Deko sell the used appliances to bhangaris, who resell the parts to local repair shops, a salesperson at Mirpur 11 told TBS. Singer's head office couldn't be reached for a comment.

What Walton and Marcel exactly do with the used appliances is not clear as the company declined to share information about it.

Air conditioners and fridges can be repaired, reused or sold for scrap metal.

The compressor, coils, and motors can be repaired by a professional service person. Besides, the thermostat, contactors, capacitors and refrigerant can be easily replaced to make the appliance work again.

There is valuable copper and aluminium in the coils. These parts always get recycled for the metal value. The rest can be recycled too, but as less valuable scrap metal.

In Bangladesh, the compressors are even repurposed to be used as tyre inflators at rickshaw and cycle workshops.