Making a toaster that lasts 100 years

Embarking on a mission to eliminate home appliance waste, one slice at a time

When is a toaster not a toaster? When it’s landfill. Credit: Andrej_22, CC BY 2.5

Last month, without warning, our otherwise reliable washing machine refused to drain - a heart-stopping event when battling the laundry generated by a 4 month old baby. Our landlord promptly sent a repair person, and they determined that, although the machine was mechanically sound, the electronics had failed. But instead of paying to fix it, our landlord decided on the much cheaper option of just binning it and buying us a whole new washing machine.

This situation is now the norm. Every year we dump almost a million tonnes of home appliance waste in the UK alone. With an average lifespan of under a decade, it’s now usually cheaper to throw a broken appliance away and buy a new one than repair it. And with kitchen trends now refreshing every year, we have more incentive than ever to switch out appliances that don’t fit the design scheme. All to say: home appliances have become disposable.

This strikes me as totally insane. But it wasn’t always like this. In the mid-twentieth century appliances were made to last. They were designed to be repaired, using higher quality components and techniques that promote longevity. As a result Maytag washing machines, Kitchenaid mixers, or Sunbeam toasters were often handed down to the next generation, with some even working to this day. Where did we lose our way?

Sunbeam toasters from 70+ years ago command £100-200 on eBay. Many are still functional

The problem lies, as it often does, in profit maximisation. Like all public companies, the handful of manufacturers that dominate the home appliance market prioritise shareholder value above all else, through exponential profit growth. They can achieve this in two ways: by reducing costs or increasing revenues. So, year by year, bit by bit, cheaper materials and processes are used to reduce unit costs at ever increasing scale. For example, the metal panels of washing machines used to be dipped in paint, but spray painting is marginally cheaper, so it has become the norm. But this often misses inner seams, and as a result the panels rust much more quickly. Cheaper, lower quality components mean that motors now give out sooner, heating elements break more often, and electronics frequently fail. This downward pressure on costs is further compounded by a race to the bottom on retail price. As a result appliance lifespans have shortened an estimated 20-30% over the past decade alone.

You’d think this would be bad for business. But shorter lifespans mean increased replacement rates, so the manufacturers actually win twice - increased sales volumes as well as lower unit costs. They have no incentive to design more easily repairable products, especially if it costs more to do so. This process of “enshittification” benefits the manufacturer’s bottom line but harms everyone else: it results in more waste for the planet, and worse products for the purchaser.

This is clearly a grotesque and unacceptable state of affairs. Which begged the question: could we reverse this trend? To do so I believe we need to harness the power of the open market rather than rail against it. Could we outcompete the incumbents by creating appliances that deliver value over a really long period of time - appliances that are built to be repaired, and handed down across multiple generations?

So I’m convening a group of us to try, starting with the humble toaster. Toasters are near universal (90% of UK households have one), they’re replaced frequently (1 in 10 households replace their toaster each year) and are too difficult and expensive relative to their value for most people to repair. Plus, despite the average toaster today offering “bagel mode” and an array of other ancillary features, the core job of toasting bread is mechanically quite simple.

Our goal is to create a toaster that toasts bread exceptionally well, for a very long time. So long, in fact, that the grandchildren of the purchaser will still be making their breakfast with it, 100 years later. What you might call “planned persistence”, rather than planned obsolescence. The initial production runs are likely to be small and therefore the products expensive, but we will only be successful when we have produced a toaster that the majority of people can afford. And of course, our toaster’s total environmental impact needs to be significantly lower than the alternatives.

The idea is that, once we’ve cracked it with a toaster, we can apply the same principles to other home appliances.  But first things first: let’s start with a nice slice of toast or two. I’ll be posting regular updates, to share what we learn - both good and bad. Subscribe to follow along!