Sustainability and Giving Back

In 2019, 975,000 tonnes of e-products, including household appliances, were estimated to have entered the Australian market. Approximately 54% of all e-waste is currently estimated to be collected in Australia, with 80% of what is being collected going to recycling. Collection of e-waste is therefore a key enabler of the recycling of e-waste.

At Appliances Online, we take our responsibility to minimise the impact of e-waste very seriously. With more than 45 million household appliances owned by Australians alone, and a staggering 2.5 million of these discarded each year, we recognise the important role we play in raising awareness on this issue and developing solutions for customers, our people, communities and the planet. Through our Legendary Service offering, Appliances Online currently helps to recycle more whitegoods than any other retailer in Australia. At no cost to our customers, we will collect and responsibly recycle old appliances, mattresses, and product packaging to ensure that precious natural resources can be diverted from landfill or re-used and given a new life. We recognise that recycling is only one piece of the puzzle and are continuously striving to improve the ways in which we tackle the issue of waste. We are committed to using our ecosystem to create a positive impact on people and the planet.  

At Appliances Online, we help customers recycle their old appliances, mattresses, and product packaging. This prevents harmful substances from leaking into the environment, keeping communities and ecosystems clean.

Since 2020, we have partnered with mattress recyclers including Soft Landing and Bounce Back, to turn old mattresses into roof sheeting, carpet underlay, and more. We are members of the Australian Bedding Stewardship Council and participants in the “Recycle My Mattress” program. Since the start of the program, we have collected and funded the recycling of over 2000 mattresses, whilst creating more than 50 jobs for people experiencing hurdles to employment. 

With the delivery of new products, comes packaging waste. That’s why Appliances Online has implemented a program to collect and recycle packaging materials ensuring it doesn't end up in landfill. Our Winning Services drivers unbox items at the delivery site, then collect and presort packaging waste to bring back to our distribution centres (DCs). This program is free for our customers and captures not only cardboard and soft plastics but also expanded polystyrene (EPS), which currently has no kerbside recycling solution for the general public.

At our DCs, we have dedicated packaging sorting areas and teams who sort the waste into four main streams: soft plastic, EPS, cardboard, and residual general waste. Cardboard and soft plastic are compressed and bailed, the EPS is either melted or compressed onsite.

After processing, we work with licensed recycling facilities to ensure the material gets turned into new products. For example, the EPS is sent to China, where it is used as a raw material for the production of new items such as picture frames and skirting boards.

From 2021-2022 we have diverted 3,039 tonnes of packaging waste from landfill.With the close of 2022, we are proud to have achieved an annual average of 70% landfill diversion for packaging waste. 

Whether it’s shopping with us, working in our operations or being a supplier to our business, we want our stakeholders to know that we are actively working to manage and mitigate any negative social and environmental impacts of our supply chain. 

Taking a risk-based approach, Appliances Online is engaging with our suppliers to understand what practices and processes they have in place to manage and mitigate the risks of modern slavery within their organisations and supply chains. A key part of our approach to responsible sourcing at Appliances Online is to educate suppliers and provide practical advice to further understand the risks of modern slavery in their supply chain, whilst improving transparency and due diligence measures. 

We are fully committed and hope this to be a path of collaboration and shared responsibility, to work towards traceability and transparency in the supply chain. To find out more about our responsible sourcing approach, review our FY24 Modern Slavery Statement and our Supplier Code of Conduct. 

We have been supporting Dignity since 2016 and this year, Appliances Online under the Winning Group has committed to a gold partnership with Dignity (valued at $50,000) to support their mission to prevent and end homelessness. We provide appliances to Dignity’s temporary accommodation homes, from washing machines and dryers to fridges and freezers and TV’s. The partnership supports Dignity to replace or upgrade any appliances across their multiple properties and to expand when opening new Dignity homes. Our teams are also encouraged to volunteer and have helped to set up a Dignity home. 

At Appliances Online, we are committed to creating an equal, inclusive and diverse work environment. We are an equal opportunity workplace and have optimised our job adverts to attract a diverse range of candidates.

Our Experience & Talent Acquisition Team delivers regular training, such as unconscious bias training, to hiring managers, ensuring they are equipped to apply an inclusive mindset to candidates and team members. We have also partnered with disability employment services for roles across the business and run return to work programs with a specific focus on supporting women to return to the workforce.

Appliances Online, under the Winning Group, has released its inaugural Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), which outlines our commitment to contribute to Australia’s reconciliation with First Nations peoples. We are proud to commence our journey to further understand our nation’s history, story and true heritage. We will use our first RAP to focus on the education of our team members and our customers on the significance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, traditions and stories in a respectful manner and to create opportunities to work with First Nations peoples across our organisation, customers, brand partnerships and beyond.