Beko, Europe's No. 1 appliance brand, believes that humans and the planet are interconnected. The brand and its parent company Arçelik held a virtual showcase of its eco-friendly appliances last week with Arçelik's CEO Hakan Bulgurlu, CMO Zeynep Yalım Uzun and CCO Ragıp Balcıoğlu and a special guest from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Brendan Edgerton, Circular Economy Director.

It was an enlightening look at how Arçelik and Beko take sustainability so seriously.

''Our goals in sustainability and our leading efforts in innovation are two great parts of the same whole. Their evolution depends on each other. It is up to us to find better, more environmentally conscious ways of conducting our lives. With a series of eco-friendly Beko appliances, customers can now fully equip a sustainable home,” said Hakan Bulgurlu, CEO of Arçelik, Beko's parent company.

To look at the sentiments of consumers, Beko, Europe’s no. 1 home appliances brand, recently conducted a survey across six countries in Europe on people’s attitudes and concerns about sustainability. The survey was conducted among 1,800 people in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain.

A vast majority (UK 88%, IT 88%, ES 87%, DE 84%, FR 78%, PL 74%) of those surveyed in the six countries said they felt it was their personal responsibility to make a difference by minimizing waste, water and energy use in their daily lives. The number of people thinking it was down to others, such as the government or business, or who think that they can’t make a difference, was negligible.

The results of the study were announced at Beko’s online showcase of seven eco-friendly home appliances. The study showed the respondents saw human environmental damage as the most critical threat to a sustainable planet by all respondents, followed by the plastic issue, then infectious diseases. Other areas of concern were extreme weather, followed by natural disasters, natural resource crises, biodiversity loss, food waste and lastly, water stress.

Most of the respondents said they practiced sustainability at home by recycling.

The study also showed that price was the most important factor when buying a home appliance, with longevity and environmental friendliness coming after. Majority of the respondents (IT 88%, ES 86%, FR 85%, PL 84%, UK 77%, DE 75%) agreed on the importance of purchasing sustainable home appliances that have a meaningful positive impact on the planet.

“Our research showed us that we are absolutely aligned with our customers on our sustainability goals. It’s encouraging that people want to be doing the right thing for the environment and believe that their actions can make an impact. Price itself has a significant impact on buying behavior. At Beko, we are passionate about democratizing technology, making it affordable and ensuring that as many as possible have access to it. By making sustainability a business model and integrating it into everything we do, we strive to reduce human environmental damage through developing high-performance, durable, affordable home appliances that are also eco-friendly. Beko’s brand purpose is empowering future generations to live healthier lives – which is only possible by living more sustainably and working towards a healthier planet. All of our actions and every product we use has an impact on nature. So beyond this seven-product portfolio, we are eager to adapt our existing technologies to make all our appliances more environmentally friendly too. For Beko, this is only the beginning,” said Gürhan Günal, Country Manager of Beko Pilipinas Corporation.

The seven sustainable products unveiled during the showcase are a washing machine/washer dryer, oven, tumble dryer, refrigerator, espresso coffee maker and dishwasher, all designed and created to help consumers reduce their impact on the environment. The appliances have parts that are made from recycled materials and bio-composites. One product, the dishwasher, helps reduce the use of chemicals.

Products with recycled materials:

EcoTub Washing Machine & Washer Dryer

• Plastic waste transformed into a valuable alternative raw material

• Approximately up to 60 recycled 0.5L PET bottles used in the tubs of washing machines and washer dryers on certain models

• Recycled PET flakes used along with other plastics and additives without an effect on the tub’s effective performance

• World’s first example of this type of application in home appliances

• This eco-friendly new manufacturing method significantly lowers carbon dioxide emissions

• Since the beginning of this project in 2017, 58 million plastic bottles have been recycled with a reduction of CO2 emissions by almost 2,200 tons.

EcoFiber Oven

• A sustainable material from recycled fishnet waste and industrial thread waste

• 5% recycled fishnet waste and 65% industrial thread waste used in plastic parts such as door decor plastic and display cover

• 50% of the BI Oven inner display cover made from industrial thread waste

GreenDry Tumble Dryer

• Uses recycled plastic in 15% of its plastic parts on average, including in the water tank housing and back cover

• In the past two years, 2,420 tons of plastic were recycled for this cause.

Products with bio-composites:

BioCycle Refrigerator

• Durable components composed of bio-based plastics

• Eggtrays made from eggshell wastes and bioplastics

• Each fridge’s two eggtrays*** contain eggshell waste from 5 eggs.

• The fan cover is 100% bio-based plastics (33gr) from sustainable resources such as corn starch or sugarcane

• The door seal is 25% bio-based (soybean oil) materials (195 gr).

BioCoffee Espresso Machine

• Developed with bio-composite technology

• Each Espresso Machine is made of five cups of coffee residue, reducing carbon footprint by 5% in bio-composite parts

Product that reduces use of detergents:

AutoDose Dishwasher

• AutoDose dispenses the right amount of detergent for sparkling clean dishes every time

• In each wash, up to 28% less detergent used with Autodose for a healthy living on a healthy planet

Product availability differs per market.